dinner party

If you could have dinner with any four people, dead or alive, who would they be?

I've been asked this question more than a few times...especially with the advent of the internet and chain email "questionaires." It's an interesting but maddening question. I haven't finished up my guest list despite plenty of time to think about it. Thank goodness a lot of these people are dead so they shouldn't mind the delay.

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” -Friedrich Nietzsche

I figure diversity is the key - but the right mix of diversity and differing opinions would be crucial. I'm trying to build good conversation.

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. -Frederich Nietzsche

Yet I certainly wouldn't seek so much diversity so as to invite, say, Pat Robertson or Dubya to my table. It's dinner, after all, and I'd like to keep my appetite. I'd need an artist there - a sculptor or a painter, I think, because there is so much in the arts that I do not know. I would love someone to spoonfeed me stories laced with art. (Da Vinci?)

Art raises its head where creeds relax. -Friedrich Nietzsche

And then I'd like someone like Martin Luther King or Ghandi or maybe Robert Kennedy. After my experience in attempting to communicate with the Indian post-doc in my office this last year, I'm striking Ghandi. (Sorry Ghandi). I'll have to go with Martin Luther King, I think, since it's his day today. Besides, I'm going to also have to invite Frederich Nietzsche, my alter-ego, and conversation could get a little spicy with the two of them there together.

Whether in conversation we generally agree or disagree with others is largely a matter of habit: the one tendency makes as much sense as the other. -Frederich Nietzsche

It's this last spot that's giving me trouble. We've got Einstein, Carl Sagan, Thomas Jefferson... I'd say Jesus but I'd be afraid he'd end up being a raving lunatic and that would depress me. Plus, I'll need another woman at the table. Oooh - Abigail Adams would be fun!

“The person lives most beautifully who does not reflect upon existence” -Friedrich Nietzsche

So that's today's attempt to answer the question. Leonardo Da Vinci, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Frederich Nietzsche and Abigail Adams.
Now what to serve?