"This will be the day when we shall bring into full realization the American dream - a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few; a dream of a land where men will not argue that the color of a man's skin determines the content of his character; a dream of a nation where all our gifts and resources are held not for ourselves alone but as instruments of service for the rest of humanity; the dream of a country where every man will respect the dignity... and worth of human personality - that is the dream." -Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. had such beautiful words, ideals, dreams, and heart.  I wish very much to be a better human, and to live according to these ideals, but am not sure how to reconcile my mundane and materialistic day-to-day actions with them.  I am not even sure if they are odds with the ideals, but sometimes I think they must be if I pay taxes to fund wars, and eat milk or cheese that I know causes the indescribable suffering of cows on mass production farms, or lay warm in my bed while others sleep outside, and wear nice clothes while others have endured great suffering to make them.  I don't want to have a depressing, bleak, overly-pessimistic view of the world, but don't want to live in ignorant bliss either, if my ignorance means that others suffer.  It is hard to decide what to do. 

I like the labor movements', John Rawl's, and Martin Luther Kings' philosophy that improving the conditions of the poorest of the poor improves the conditions for everyone - the cooperative rather than competitive.