with the talents and resources you have? It's a fairly basic question, but remarkably one I never even bothered to ask myself until the answer was shown to me by accident: I was holding an armful of blankets and wondering what to do with them when a story came on the radio about a cholera epidemic in the Sierra Madres. This inspired a chain of events that resulted in about three years of delivering clothing, school and medical supplies to poor communities in the Mexican highlands and throughout the southwest. You can read about it here.
What I wanted to do was alleviate human misery, and as it turned out the best way to do it was to collect warm clothes from rich people, pack them into my van and deliver them to the poorest, coldest and most isolated people I could find. This simple formula put me through tests and took me to places I'd never even dreamed of, but when I was done I knew that a couple of thousand people were at least slightly better off because of what I'd done. On top of everything else, this sort of project can do wonders for your self-esteem.
I'm sure you're familiar with Joe Hill's final advice: "Don't mourn, organize." To that I'd like to add, "And once you've gotten tired of organizing, just go out and Do Something." Taking from the rich and giving to the poor is a good start, and if you're within striking distance, getting warm clothes to cold people is a damn good way to do it. But for the moment probably the most useful thing you can do is simply ask yourself the question: "What's the most useful thing I can do with the talents and resources I have to make this world a better place?"
After that, check out "Take to the Hills!" and feel free to buy and gift it voraciously. It's a quick read, and only 99 cents.