Movies and TV often spend most of their time building up to a disaster that is averted by a grand heroic action at the end.  That is not the way the real world gets improved.  Most lasting improvements grow from small individual acts that encourage others to take similar actions. 

For example, the federal Fair Housing Act would never have passed Congress unless a large numbers of individuals across the country had formed friendships with members of other racial groups.  It doesn’t take heroic actions to improve the part of the world that you occupy.  You can even make the world a happier place by the way you interact with other people while you are waiting in line for something else.