Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?
If you could invite any five people (living or dead) to a dinner party, whom would you invite and why? (You're allowed to resurrect the dead guests for this purpose.) You have to pick "famous" people, which means people others might have heard of (not five of your relatives, unless you and they are already famous).
This question has a point, but of course, I'm not going to tell you what it is until after you email me your responses. Your responses will be kept confidential, naturally.
Give this some thought... the question may be of benefit to you in your life/work planning. More on that later.
For the record, here is my guest list. I found it very difficult to narrow my guest list down to only five people. There are so many interesting people out there, but here's who I narrowed it down to... this week, anyway...
Viktor Frankl (1905-1997): Psychiatrist, author, concentration camp survivor, and founder of the "logotherapy" movement. Best known for his work Man's Search for Meaning (originally titled From Death Camp to Existentialism). Believed that the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor should be balanced with a Statue of Responsibility off the coast of Los Angeles.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936): British man of letters, known as the "prince of paradox", whose writings are best exemplified by The Man Who Was Thursday and Orthodoxy: The Romance of Faith. Maintained warm, active relationships with H.G. Wells and G.B. Shaw, with both of whom he violently disagreed philosophically.
Isabel Briggs Myers (1897-1980): Co-developer of the now famous Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Along with her mother, single-handedly took on the psychological establishment and won. Also a prolific creative writer and, like me, an INFP. "I dream that long after I'm gone, my work will go on helping people," she said in her last public statement.
Peter Drucker (1909- ) Still active as a management consultant at the age of 93, Drucker launched the study of organizational management and has been tremendously influential as a social analyst for more than sixty years. A famous quote is, "If you can't replicate something because you don't understand it, then it really hasn't been invented."
Athanasius (296-373): Stood almost completely alone against the philosophic tenor of his times, hence the epithet contra mundum associated with him: "It is not the world against Athanasius, it is Athanasius against the world". Saved Western civilization by removing a single letter i from early drafts of the Nicene Creed.
Honorable mentions: Black Elk (1863-1950), Cleveland Amory (1917-1998), William Glasser (1925- ), Richard John Neuhaus (1935- ), and Harriet Tubman (1820-1913). Sorry to disappoint you, but Britney Spears (1981- ) did not even come close to getting on the list. But I'd try to make room somewhere for conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel (1990- ).