Why Wait for a Messiah?

 There is an article in the 11/29/2010 issue of The New Yorker, "Are You the Messiah?" by Lauren Collins, wherein the reader comes to find that political economist Raj Patel, through no fault of his own, becomes the embodiment of some cult's messianic figure. The cult, represented by Share International, states that their Messiah, known as the Maitreya, represents the Messiah figures of every major world religion. Apparently there was some heated debate over whether or not Raj was indeed the Maitreya or some kind of Share International version of the anti-Christ.
 Obviously, Raj Patel is not the Maitreya or any kind of Messiah, he is an ordinary human being. If in doubt, finish reading the The New Yorker article where Benjamin Creme, executive head of Share International, states that Patel is not their Messiah, that their Maitreya is still lurking in the shadows, for some reason, waiting to aid a world that is already in deep shit. Such is the life of a Messiah, any Messiah, always waiting for the right moment to come in and save the day for humanity.
 Are there any recorded moments in documented world history where some Messiah figure descended from heaven and saved us from the repercussions of our own mistakes? Oh, sure, there are plenty of unsubstantiated reports from antiquated holy books, but can anyone mark a real date in history? There are certainly verifiable times in both the distant past and the recent past where human beings have worked together to pull humanity out of the darkness such as: The establishment of the Greek city-states in 800 BC which heralded the beginning of western civilization and paragons of philosophy such as Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates; the dawn of the Renaissance in 1450, when civilization rose from the ashes of the medieval era and brought about a renewed focus on art and science; the American Revolution, begun in 1774 with the takeover of Fort William & Mary, where the American colonies united against the tyranny of the British Crown. There are many similar examples, just crack open a history text book.
 Humanity cannot rely on some outdated prophecy of a Messiah to save the world. Just as in any other epoch of history, we must rely on ourselves to fix the mess that we have made of our world. The people of Earth are religious creatures, always have been even since earliest recorded history, but that should not sway us from taking care of our own mistakes, fixing our own problems. We, as human beings, need to stop waiting for the Messiah to grant us a "do-over." We need to take matters into our own hands, as our forefathers did, and take responsibility for our actions. This is the only way we can save ourselves.