Can we talk?

Big banquet

    Every now and then I fantasize about my own personal guest list of anyone in the world to a dinner party and long conversation. I assume, of course, that each famous person will accept and spend an entire evening, and that appropriate accommodations could be made. It's the one time I don't think about a menu, but instead I wonder what we'll talk about, or whether we'll have several small chats going on at the same time.

    I have two versions. One is for living people only. The second, the true fantasy, will include anyone living or dead, about 10 people in all. Who would you pick if you could have such a dinner?

    I'd invite Jimmy Carter, Condaleeza Rice, Hillary Clinton, Dennis Miller, Phillip Yancy, Billy Graham--if his health allowed, Oprah, Angela Mayou, Bill Gates' father, Warren Buffet. Maybe Jim Cramer. Maybe Margaret Thatcher. I think we'd have a balance of view points and entertainment.

    For the second version, I'd invite Mother Theresa, Saint Augustine, Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Edison, Abe Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, Helen Keller, and Saint Paul. Maybe Socrates, Shakespeare, Johan Sebastian Bach, or Madame Curie. It's hard to stop with ten. Oh, yeah, Ghandi. Wouldn't that be exciting? Are they really like the characters in the history books? Would we really experience all that mental power and creativity that was collected there?

   
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