Dinner with Four People

It is difficult to choose only four people in all of history to have a dinner with - there are an uncountable amount of characters throughout time that I know for a fact would make my night a blast, so many with stories to tell and advice to give. I read once on Newsela that, "Decades of research has shown that loneliness and isolation are associated with high blood pressure, chronic inflammation, weakened immune systems and a host of other health issues" (Kaplan). Therefore, not only is it important and healthy to keep people around me, but people who are going to benefit me and help me discover who I am.

First off, we would definitely eat 5 Guys. Not only is it my favorite restaurant, it is simply just burgers and fries. I feel the simplicity of the meal is important so we would focus less on the fancy food we are eating and more on the in depth conversation we would all have.

The first individual I would invite to my dinner is Snoop Dogg without a question. Not only is he one of the most lively, hilarious and fun individuals in the celebrity scene today, he also takes a passion in giving advice to young people. If you watch his GGN with young up-and-coming artists it is clear how much he cares for the younger generations and how he wants to see them grow and succeed.

The second person I would have at my dinner is Jackie Robinson. Not only is he one of my favorite baseball players of all time he did so much for the world as we know it; he was the first african-american baseball player and look at where the MLB is at now. There are players from just about every background and teams with just about every color. I would love to here the stories of his life going through all that adversity. I did a report on him in elementary school and have watched the film 42, but those cannot account for his whole life and I am sure there is so much more he could tell me about how he changed baseball and racism in America.

Of course, Jackie Robinson is who everyone thinks of when they think of the first black baseball player but he couldn't have done it without Branch Ricky, who is the third individual I would invite. Branch Ricky is in my opinion one of the most important activists in American history, yet few know who he is because Robinson - through no fault of his own - overshadowed him. It took guts for a white man to bring a black baseball player into the MLB. To me, they are a package deal and I am sure I could learn so much more from both of them together than one or the other.

The final person I would invite to my dinner is Ricardo Valentine, better known as his stage name 6LACK, my current favorite singer. I quickly fell in live with his music when I felt an uncanny relation to his lyrics and the knowledge he put in his songs: Worst Luck, Luving U, PRBLMS and really just all his songs are tracks that I learned a lot about relationships and growing up from. However, you can only put so much knowledge into songs to make everything rhyme. Ever since the first song I heard, I knew that this man was one of the most down to earth, knowledgable people who has taught the masses how to deal with relationships, struggle and life.

Although this is all hypothetical, the important message is to surround oneself with people that one can learn from and grow with. Of course, it is important to stay true to oneself, but we can always benefit from the stories and advice others have to give.