What can be done?
Happily, we are limited. Without being constrained by rules, we couldn't play the game. Without the bounds of the canvas, we'd never finish the painting. Without a finite set of choices, we'd never be able to choose. Our capabilities—what we can do—are like this. They allow us to do some things by disallowing an infinity of other things. Think of them as the material we have to work with. The idea is to see in that material the unique possibilites it affords. No one else is limited in the same sense. And it's not about who can do more or less. All we really want is to make that contribution that we are uniquely capable of making, and this is determined by our unique capabilites.
Of course, these capabilities aren't static. We can develop capabilities we didn't previously have, but the motivation to do so will be conditioned by our current capabilites. It's similar to desire. Desire is a motivating force, and we can't desire something we already have. So, our limitations constitute opportunities.
In short, none of us can solve the world's problems. But just because we can't do everything doesn't mean we can't do something. It's important to know our own limitations and work with them. Indeed, the limitations simply define the edges of what we have to work with—of what we can do. Knowing our limits can be empowering, so long as we don't just know them but own them.
This goes the same for collective efforts. One thing we can do is join our own efforts with many others such that, collectively, we're capable of bringing about changes that no one person would ever dream of being able to bring about alone. Yet even collective efforts have limits, and it's good to be aware of them. This way, we can try to collectively do what we can do (like fight global climate change, together) and not what we can't (like avoid the damage already done).
