Responses
A lot of this has to do with his past trauma and a specific adult who led him to think, I don't want to be the protagonist. Cale has a lot of trauma involving death and security. He tends to burden himself with the weight of his own expectations and not allow the people who are closest to him to suffer. Cale is incredibly efficient and he will take on a responsibility if he so deems it to be the best course of action. Though I agree with you don't trust what Cale say's man is incredibly lonely.
I love Cale, he's like ooooh I have this selfish lazy scheme and then it's always just helping people and being kind to them.
I know some people take these thoughts of his at face value, but c'mon!! He could've had much more peace of he hadn't involved himself at all. He practically made himself the centre of international politics, how is that peaceful in any way? I personally think he's deluding himself, because he doesn't want to feel burdened by those expectations of virtue. I'm not even saying he's this selfless hero people see him as, but instead of caring for his own peace, he cares for the peace of everyone.