@JaredBusch : I'm not certain if this fits the bill, but what about the "diff" command? Of course, this does nothing to sync the files but does offer a way to simply compare the directories.

diff -rs manxam jaredbusch

This will get you :

Files /home/manxam/TEST and /home/jaredbusch/TEST are identical Only in /home/manxam: i_am_manxam Only in /home/jaredbusch: you_are_jared