Do People Quit Caring?

Today, one of my Facebook friends asked a question on Facebook:

At what point do people quit caring about making change in the community and just focus on their own advancement?

It is an interesting and thought-provoking question. My response was "I don't think people stop caring about making change in the community, but rather they feel that they can't do it unless they change themselves. People naturally want to make a difference, but not all of them understand that they can do that regardless of their "status" in the professional or social world."

Others believed that it was maybe a result of failure when they did care about making change or perhaps the narrow approach to "make change". They only tried one way and didn't like it, so they gave up.

A general consensus is that an individual will care about making differences in the community so long as they feel they are actually making a difference, and will give up the moment they don't think they are doing anything significant anymore (even if they actually are).

What are your thoughts?