He gave planet Earth an important wake-up call: Democracy is about to be shot in the head.

(And personally, I don't think we should expect more whistle blowers in the coming years, because the NSA sure as hell will make sure it will never happen again, so this makes this moment even more important.)

He did all this showing us that he's ready to be tortured and die for this cause.

EDIT: This is history being written. What happens now and what does not will define the future we and our children will have. I thought this was 100% obvious.