Please explain...

[Riverkilt]

Stay appropriate Ron...stay appropriate Ron....deep breath...okay...

Ya know....I've been through sooooo much just getting "permission" to wear kilts at work - in a free country that allows women to wear pants to work - that I'm really not much up for "what type" of kilt. The victory is in the freedom for both sexs to choose the type of garment I wanna wear. And I do own and occasionally wear a Dashiki...purchased from a vendor who sewed it up herself at a Black Pride gathering.

What is interesting to me, because it is me, is how my attitude towards kilts evolved. My grandfather Murdoch slathered me with our family heritage and history. I first went to Highland games and didn't much like them since so many there were "dour Scots" The idea of me ever owning a kilt or wearing one never occured to me until my late 50s.

I was impressed by the first Utilikilt workman's I saw at a Ren Faire. Just had to have one...that count is now 15 Utilikilts. They made sense. I bought some AmeriKilts and Freedom Kilts and Pittsburgh Kilts too in solids and camos.

Somewhere along the line my preference for solid and camo kilts evolved into tartan kilts. Now I'm attracted to tartan kilts much more than solids.

Go figure. A round about way to come to the tartan kilts.

But if anywhere during this process, this evolution, someone had told me what I can and can't wear I don't see one reason to listen to him or her.

The freedom is mine. I did have one bird at a highland games tell me I wasn't entitled to wear my first hand sewn kilt, Macdonald Lord of the Isles Hunting. Checked with my Clan Donald...they said he was a nut case. Following year I looked for him at the clan tent and they said they kicked him out for being rude and obnoxious. Ya gotta love the clan.

A good friend of mine made his living as a speaker. After every presentation there'd be a few people who just "had" to talk to him and tell him he got something wrong, or didn't understand, or really should know...

His stock response was, "I don't want to hear it." Of course they'd press on with their "but -buts" but John would just stand firm and say clearly and firmly, "I don't want to hear it."

He knew who he was and what he believed and he had no interest in having other people "set him straight."

That was a great example for me. Today, I'm a 63-year-old intelligent, aware adult with degrees, licenses, certifications, and experiences that include knowing well the sound of a bullet passing close by, and I don't need others wiser than me telling me how I should dress, or live my life thank you. If I've an interest I'll seek them out and ask them.

Course, never mind that I often run around doing the same thing myself...but that's different...right...

Ron

Okay...Murdoch would rise from the grave and bestow the wrath of Hell itself on me if I ever wore the tartans of certain clans or regiments....