How can I change things?

I can't believe the number of verses that I have been directed to lately that have spelled out retribution for those who persecute God's people. This morning the verses were found in Isaiah 51:7-16.
I am so glad that God is in charge of the whole revenge thing, He is much more creative than I am. I don't get too bent out of shape over those who hurt me but when someone hurts a family member or a friend I morph into some kind of weird warrior type woman. Wow, look out! She's on the warpath then.
In high school I was mother hen and protector to a group of girls who were picked on by the kids from a higher social class. Our school had a catchment area that was not too well thought out. All the rich kids from east Kelowna were mixed in with some of the poorer families who lived closer to the lake area. My family was more middle class. It would just make me crazy some of stunts that were pulled to pick on these girls. Things were said about their clothes or hairstyle, or just that they walked to school. Really dumb! I would tell off the bullies all the time. Then would get into trouble for being disruptive or some other thing. I had one teacher pull me aside and talk to me. When I asked her why she was talking to me when she knew that the problem did not originate with me she said, "You are more approachable. I know that I can resolve the disruption if I address it through you.' I changed schools the next year.
I did learn something from what that teacher said though. God would use me to change and influence others only if I would let Him lead me. Not in the way that I had thought, with harsh words and fists flying.
There are so many atrocities that happen in the world. People ask how others could have stood by and done nothing when they knew what was happening was completely inhuman. Things of the past like the Holocaust and horrors that are happening today like Darfur. We can use the excuse that we do not know but with the media and internet there's no way we can stick our head in the sand and ignore it. It's there if we choose to see. If we choose to understand the human suffering.
I feel it is easier for us to respond to a natural disaster like the tsunami because it does not involve more of us than opening our pockets. I can send a cheque and feel wonderful that I did something to help. Nothing more is required of me. My conscience is placated. But when I am required to open up my heart and change what I believe it is harder. I must open up my mouth and confront, be persistent and move in circles that I am uncomfortable with. I say, "I am only one person, what can I do?"
What if that child starving in an African refugee camp was my child? What if he was the only child I had left because the others had been kidnapped and force to become soldiers? What if I knew the woman who was repeatedly raped then branded so she would be an outcast? If I knew her name and what her thoughts were, would I care more then? These people may not know God as I do but they are no less His than I am. How He must weep when we turn our heads away.
I know that God will exact justice. Does that excuse me from seeking to change the lifes of those who are without the means to influence change themselves?
"Awake, awake!
Clothe yourself with strength,
O arm of the Lord."