Imagine you're emptying your dishwasher, just minding your own business when suddenly the devil appears. He has chosen you to pose a dilemma. Naturally you know better than to make a deal with the devil, but he tells you that refusal is not possible. He will give you two options and the one you decide happens. You protest that this is not how deals with the devil work in stories but he's the devil and he makes the rules. So here's what he offers:
In the first scenario you can get as much attention as you want. Everyone will love you, no matter what you do. If you make a joke, everyone will think it's the best joke they ever heard. If you tell a story, everyone will listen as if they have to write an exam about it. If you decide to do something public, you can be sure to draw a crowd. In D&D terms, you'll roll a natural 20 on every charisma check that is to come. But it's all an illusion. Nothing else changes, you'll be the same person as before and the world will stay as it is.
In the second scenario, he offers you real power. You get to secretly influence the decisions of the most powerful people on the planet, while also being granted the wisdom to make these decisions in the best possible way according to your values. You will get access to knowledge that only few people on the planet have and the mental capabilities to draw the right conclusions from it. You could easily eradicate world hunger, end climate change or cure cancer. The only drawback: nobody must know. You will live a humble life as a regular person. If you try to tell people about your true power, they won't believe you and it's impossible to convince them.
To conclude: Either attention with no power or power with no attention. What would you choose? Don't worry, you don't have to answer. It would probably be something along the lines of "definitely the second one, I never cared much about fame anyways and what a small sacrifice it is compared to solving the worlds most pressing problems". Depending on who you are, that might be more or less true, but that's probably the answer you'd give because it makes you more likable if this is just a thought experiment. Having to answer this question to someone else is very unfaithful to the thought experiment, since it's a very important part of it that nobody will know what you chose. This is a thought experiment that you can only faithfully pose to yourself.
Importantly, I don't think you're a bad person, if you choose either way. I'd very much like it if you ended all wars and united humanity, but I'd totally understand it if you were of the opinion that humanity doesn't really deserve that if they don't give you credit. Humanity doesn't owe you anything. Also, simply assuming that shaping the world to your liking would be good for humanity might also be a misconception. Sure, you could solve problems where it's quite uncontroversial that we want them solved, but what sacrifices are you willing to make for it? What risks are you willing to take? It's no reason to be ashamed if you shy away from that responsibility, especially if no one judges you for it.
On the other hand, there's some seriously bad stuff happening in the world. Could all that love that you would get really drown the guilt that so many terrible things could have been prevented if only you hadn't been so selfish? Doesn't the responsibility start as soon as you're presented with the option? That only depends on you and your values. And although I don't think you could ever get an honest answer from anyone else about that dilemma, I think there is merit in knowing what the honest answer is for you. It can be a valuable lesson on the quest to get to know yourself.
So, are you the hero we all need but don't deserve? Or do you just want to be loved? The choice is yours.
