Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Together Friends

I've elected to join the Convergent Friends discussion, ongoing these days within the blogosphere, with what I'll call my "Together Friends" -- a trope or literary figment, usable in spoofs.

Together Friends, somewhat hypothetical and/or fictional (or shall we say incredible), really do have their act together, and make the rest of us feel like bozos in contrast.

We tell stories and jokes about Together Friends with the aim of spurring ourselves towards higher levels of performance in our faith and practice as Quakers.

For example, one might say "Together Friends already have an online database of thousands of outstanding vegetarian recipes suitable for feeding large groups; just put in the number to be served, and get a list of ingredients."

That sounds way more together than most Friends I'm aware of, but is maybe "convergent" in the sense of holding out an ideal we might agree upon as worthy.

Or, if we disagree on a projected practice, then we have something to chat about, another way of exploring our differences, our relative biases.

Together Friends know geodesic math and how to use it. Do we agree? If not, then why don't we?

Speaking of vegetarian recipes, here's a family favorite from the late Teresina Havens, a Together Friend, which scales to mass quantities.