It was wasn't because the system had failed [...]. It was because people like me had failed to act when we could. The system was people and I was part of it, part of its problems, and I was going to be part of its solution from now on.
The clarion call of the novel. Take responsibility. It does if you can't do much, but if you want to, do something. The power to make a better world is in our hands.
It's easy to say that it's an idealist manifesto, that the masses can't do anything to change to the status quo, but that isn't true. Group action won't always be successful, it won't always have the expected results, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.