It's a mistake to assume nobody can make a difference.

The list of individuals that have changed the world, for better or worse, is enormous. I had a post a while back discussing the Asimov "psychohistory" concept, that postulated the SF idea that history could be mathematically predicted for large numbers of people. In the novels, the predictions went sour when "The Mule," a militant leader, arose.

In real life, history is up the its gunwales in "mules:" individuals who by their actions or inactions have altered history drastically. Most of them started out as quite ordinary people.

History is a wave, but you can steer a surfboard, and in some cases, even create your own waves.