This comment really resonated with me: I know I've had the same reaction to the news, the feeling of self-loathing at not being able to do anything - which can paralyze even what little I can do. (I think I feel like what I ought to be able to do is fix it and that's obviously beyond my power - and anything smaller than that feels like nothing. It's the starfish problem.)

Maybe you could post this comment as its own entry, too? I think a lot of people must be feeling like this and just knowing that we're all feeling like that together might make it easier for us to do the things that we can do, however ineffectual they feel.