Political leaders and change makers are held to such high regards in our society. People who don’t observe, but take action are considered to be our nation’s heroes. Yet not every problem needs to be solved by every person, and most people can’t solve most of the problems of the world. Indeed, most political advocates and leaders fail, their changes rejected or trivial — their messages, concerns and warnings lost in the static.

The truth is you don’t have to be out in front of every crisis facing our nation — or even your little town and community. You don’t have to be a hero. It’s safe to make note of a problem, quietly point out a serious concern, note the statistics and likely outcomes, without being out on the streets fighting against evil. You can accept a little evil, look the other way.

As I say much these days, “If you can’t save the world, at least save yourself.”

Too many political people become martyrs with too little to show for it. It’s rare to find people as successful as Nelson Mandela. Most people like him, with just as much conviction, fighting so hard for what is good and right, get rewarded only be a jail cell or the loss of their lives. When you know you have little chance of stopping evil in the world, it’s best to just look away, and do what you can in your little part of the world to avoid participating in evil.

It’s pretty clear that folks like Ted Kaczynski are really smart and have good ideas. But they ruined their life by fighting for those ideas. He would have been much better off if he had stayed in his Montana cabin, keenly observing what was going on in the world around him, while not participating in it to the greatest extent possible. He couldn’t — and would inevitably fail — at stopping so much of the evil of the modern world — but he could have taken care of himself, protected himself from the evil around him and withdrew from as much of the evil as possible.

It’s alarming how when you watch the news, you are constantly bombarded with supposed heroes like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, or a million different government workers like cops and politicians. The message is constantly reinforced that they went above and beyond, how they made the world a better place. Indeed they did, but at a high personal cost to themselves. Those changes needed to be made, but it came at an incredibly high cost to their own lives. I for one, don’t want to end up in a jail cell or with a bullet in my back, just because I believe something is right or wrong. I’m quiet happy to look the other way, and look inward, towards being a better person in my own life, while not saving the world.

Change needs to happen. But not every person needs to be a change agent, and unless you have a damn good strategy and a lot of luck, chances are you’re not going to be a successful agent of change. But maybe you shouldn’t be. Maybe you should instead focus on your own life, saving yourself and not your country.