Quote Originally Posted by Phil View Post
...I am very aware, however, that absence makes the heart grow fonder, that distance can obliterate memories of hardship and suffering and give the individual a pair of rose-tinted spectacles about many things others might prefer to forget. As a result, there are probably no greater adherents to the clan system, no bigger consumers of shortbread, haggis and scotch whisky, no more enthusiastic attendees at Burns suppers, no more assiduous exponents of highland dancing, piping and the learning of Gaelic than are those from the great Scottish diaspora, many separated by several generations from their roots. This is not to say, however, that any of them would actually consider returning to live the dream, preferring instead to pontificate from afar.
For a Scot born and bred and actually living in the country, however, clans have very little relevance beyond the name on a nice tartan and to bend the knee to any upstart calling themselves a "clan chief" would be totally unthinkable.
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I have often thought how ironic it sometimes is at highland games in the US when some people become so enthused over the titled clan chiefs in attendance (not that most of them aren't swell fellows,) but either don't know or choose not to remember that it was the heavy-handedness and cruelty of the ancestors of some of these same chiefs that caused the ancestors of some present-day clan afficianados to emigrate to the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere, in the Clearances and other such oppression. There are reasons why they left Scotland, as well as reasons why Scots government, society, and culture have changed over the centuries.