Sand Into the Ocean

There is this one idea that I keep on trying to figure out...
I once had a conversation with a guy in a café.

I was telling him about how terrible I felt about the world.
The advertisement is eating our brains!
People walk around in life being horrible at each other to reach more success, more money, more power!
Our planet is being destroyed!
Nature is fighting us back!
We need to do something about it!
We need to change the world soon, before it's too late!
I was in despair.

He looked at me and shook his head.
He told me:
Everything in the world is made of atoms and you would be surprised to know those atoms are mostly empty space and smaller particles which vibrate at a certain speed, a certain rhythm. They are always moving, always vibrating, always changing.
Everything is always changing.
Whether you like it or not, the world is changing. But... who is to tell that it should change in the way you want it to change? There are so many people in the world! All of them with their own opinions about what's better!
I'm not saying you shouldn't fight for your ideals, but if you keep on being so angry it's like you're just throwing sand into the ocean...


Ok then. But what's the line?
I did Vipassana meditation on December 2011 and this question got even bigger and bigger.
In the course they kept encouraging equanimity and acceptance of reality as it is.
One thing is clear to me: We can't change the past and therefore, it's better to accept it as it is.
But the present? The future?
If I feel a terrible pain in my foot it might be something that I can observe and wait until it has stop, which I have done many times. But what if I'm getting bitten by a poisonous snake? There is something I can so to stop it! To change the present and live!
A big example of this came the first day of the course, when we were shaken by an earthquake at the meditation hall. It felt pretty strong. Some people stood up and walked towards the door, following the common advice about earthquakes, which are rather common in the Mexico City area. But the teacher asked for equanimity and told us to stay in the room.
The earthquake did pass. But I can't help thinking that if it had gotten worse, at least a couple of people would have gotten crushed under the building, when we could have just stepped out and enjoy this wonderful expression of Earth in the open fields, where nothing could fall on us.

I'm really not looking for answers.
I'm not trying to change the world anymore.
I'm just trying to own my life and my feelings, start exciting projects that make me feel excited and ALIVE!
I'm mostly just trying to live.
And I'm also hoping that by being alive, I might help others find their way to feel alive as well.