Have you ever seen someone's else graduation pictures - as you look in each of their eyes you see the flare, the madness, the idea of them changing the world; being special. Funny. But not in an over-simplistic way.
As with drugs, we tell people those are solely bad - life is great if you learn a lot. No, life won't be great if you learn a lot. Even if you "do all right" bad things might happen; rich people have vices as poor people, they have suffering and pain. The truth is if you "do all things right" you will have more power to impact people in the way you choose to.
Don't be an ant on your own.. - i second thought all those things - i can only observe. Race, nation, age, gender, family; all are things that when shared bring us closer together. There is a deep mistrust between individuals. We are thought from when we are small to strive to be the best. Shouldn't this be on an equal footing with helping other reach their best also?
I'm missing the truth. 
Society should be taken "as is" and we should secure a top place by our effort. The only way this changes is if the majority ( define majority: number ; force , anyway ambiguous) decide a change is needed. And the majority is made from individuals who follow the above stated personal agenda. It's a matter of trust, common goals, authoritarian ethical leadership. Common values and common notion and view on good and evil. I already doubt - sort of- the practicality of the above leadership and wonder if we can go past groups against groups to only a group. Best answer I can give is: It's a slow process, but it's happening. It involves all of us and our decisions.