One thing leftists need to understand is that small actions do lead to large results so long as they’re coordinated. Like, organizing from the ground up will literally be you and one friend doing random acts of public service for a while. You throw periodic parties that are lowkey recruitment drives. You continue asking people for help in smaller and smaller ways until the ask is finally small enough for them to engage. You plan goals that are easy wins so that you can overshoot them and get that morale boost.

Think about how effective the masks were when people were using them. Think about how ineffective they were now that people have stopped. It’s a nearly meaningless action on the personal level. That’s why so many people saw it as symbolic. The reality is that anybody who wore a mask was a very small part in a gigantic effort that saved millions of lives. That’s the power of being able to see from the general to the particular, which is a phrase I saw earlier today. On a related note, the folks over in !bloomer@hexbear.net are going to be compiling resources on how to effectively begin organizing to fight climate change. Should be worth checking out