Those in any kind of pain know this: the pursuit of overcoming suffering always feels important. And when Buddhists say, "life is suffering," are they also saying life is intrinsically meaningful? That we, as conscious beings, are bound to suffer suggests that we come standardly equipped with the best kind of goal—one that can be approached and approached but never completely attained. The act of "making progress" is a far more sustainable source of dopamine than the act of completion.
But let us posit for a second that life is not only suffering. Certainly, the dogma of American-style materialism would have that be the case. And truly, it seems that marketing executives from all of our favorite brands have fairly well convinced much of the western world that we can consume our way out of suffering. And wouldn't you know, after taking them up on their offer, we did suffer less for a time (especially in a physical sense). However, lately, many of us have begun to realize something else: we might also have consumed our way out of meaning.
And with this realization, we began to face an even more glaring lack. Ultimately, finding meaning in the fight to end our (or others') suffering is still an outgrowth of a materialist worldview. And when our lives became more comfortable, we had nowhere beyond the world of sense to turn for a new influx of purpose. For we were now basking in the gifts of the Enlightenment, and our reason had relativized all of our previous, more transcendent obligations. Rejecting the absolute laws and unquestionable truths of the Ruler(s) of eternity, we may have lost the means of finding ultimate meaning apart from suffering.
This is the problem faced by wealthy, developed societies that have lost belief in God and have also succeeded in minimizing human suffering. Here, Thoreau's "quiet desperation" is bound to develop. And lately, in some quarters, this desperation has found its voice by proclaiming that much suffering and injustice still does exist! These desperate advocates advise all who feel the aimless pit of today's world to keep a microscope always on their person so that they may detect new grievance after grievance and thus recover meaning for themselves once again. This is the new spirit of "indignationalism" that is overtaking the world today!