Kilts and Self-Identity

[Eujeankilt]

What a fascinating thread!

I think that all I can be sure of is that - I am. All else changes. I am the sum of all my experiences and tendancies. Each experience nudges me and shapes me and kilt wearing has shaped me in a certain way. I chose it specifically to help build self-confidance.

In the past 5 years or so, I've really begun to find out who I am by looking inside rather than looking outside. I find that the labels tend to fall away. Who I define myself as tends to be similar to any another garment. I wear it as long as it's comfortable and when I find something new, change it.

Currently, I see myself as a buddhist, pagan, pacifist, organic, husband, father, craftsperson, kiltwearing, long haired (always clean and neat), techie student of life.

I raise a dram to all of us!!


Dale

[gangreenfootball]

I am ....
the one your mother warned you about.

[CameronTaylor]

I am an individual ................... just like everyone else.


CT - texas crushed stone

[pbpersson]

Since you asked, I am a:

Computer geek
Solver of puzzles
Seeker of truth and wisdom
Builder, tinkerer, creator/inventor
Lover of cats
Loyal friend
Comedian (like to make people laugh)
Seeker of fun and enjoyment
Eccentric (some people march to the tune of a different drummer, I have an entire orchestra)
Swede
Single Male
Human
Born-again Christian child of God
A soul that will survive forever, temporarily housed in this body

Since I am Builder, tinkerer, creator and a computer geek those features combine to make me a software developer.

Being a computer geek and a solver of puzzles makes me an excellent computer troubleshooter

Being a seeker of truth and wisdom and a solver of puzzles means that as I get older and experience more of life, I keep thinking I can fit the pieces together and understand the puzzle of life and the puzzle of the human psyche. However, that puzzle seems to be too complex to solve, at least for me.

My ultimate challenge would be to write a program that would exist on multiple Linux machines such that when those machines are joined together on a high-speed computer network they would form an artificial mind capable of simulating human thought. However, that project might need to wait for my retirement years, right now I have too many other things on my plate.

[staticsan]

In my life at the moment, I am exploring what it means to be Me and how that plays out in my life, my choices and my actions. Having the cojones to buy a kilt in the first place is part of my journey into and through that. The pleasure of the unbifurcated garment is hard to underestimate.

Part of me is a musician and singer in my church. And that is a part of me I will not give up.

Part of me is a father to a 7 month old child I don't see as often as I would like to, as his mother and I are separated. But there is nothing I want more than to be a father to him as best I can.

Part of me is a computer programmer and database guru. And that part of me funds my living.

Part of me is an amateur scholar of language and society and sociality. Amongst other things, it gives me things to talk about and read about.

There are many more parts, but that will do for now.

[kevinkinney]

Whoa, so much for the evening of casual hobby porn on the forum.

Great thread.

I'm old enough to understand and appreciate my elders.
I'm smart enough to heed their advice.
I'm young enough to grow into the father that I'll need to be.
I'm wise enough to know that I wouldn't grow without my son.

Kevin

[David Dalglish]

I'am just a "Nutter"

[furrycelt]

like many of you have said, i am still me regardless of whether i have the kilt on or not. however on those rare times i am in public wearing pants/shorts... i feel odd now. i feel like i am not me... like just one of the rest of the sheeple around me.... or more accurately i feel like i am short-changing myself.

clothes only make the man if that man can be so easily malleable. i do think that for most people the clothes reflect who the person is. and so me in a kilt shows that i am a person who prefers comfort over conformity, and one who does not mind standing out, and one who does celebrate his celtic heritage. and of course i am more than just the above, i'm a geek, a computer professional, a champion of Ubuntu, but a user of Windows, a photographer, a Christian, a philosopher, a husband, a dad, a son, a sh!t disturber (my dad always called me that), an American, a hiker, a camper, of a generation born in the mid 70's, a North Carolinian, a former stagehand/lighting designer/sound engineer/stage wight, a wanna-be writer, a traveler, a human.

[Alan H]

I find it interesting that so many of us declare with fervid intensity...I am ME!

...and in some variant (not all of us did this)...I am not not one of the sheeple!

Uh, you know what strikes me about that?....who are the sheeple?

Oh, right...those guys that wear pants. Or those guys that wear ties. Or those guys that have jobs where you have to **fill in the blank**. Or those guys who are married, or those guys who went to UCLA, or those guys that wear Black Watch, or anyone who drives an SUV, is blonde and owns a golden retriever... or whatever. Honestly I don't know very many sheeple. Maybe it' s just where I live and work, but I don't. I'm not sure I would recognize a sheeple if I saw one.

I certainly know people who go through life without asking very many questions, but I'm not at all sure that's the definition of "sheeple". I know people who didn't ask questions at one point in their lives, but ask questions at other times. Are they sheeple? Once a sheeple, always a sheeple? I kind of doubt that all the people who are sheeple choose a uniform mode of dressing, either. I *suspect* in hours of despair, that there might possibly be kilted sheeple.

Would someone be so kind as to explain to me who the sheeple are?

and yes, my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek, here

NEXT!!!

I am also intrigued and rather relieved that I didn't see too many people declare loudly and often that they don't care a fig what anyone else thinks about them, EVER. insert banging fist on table, here, and possibly loud grunting, too.. There's a fine line that we all tread, between being a sheeple and being an arrogant jerk. Most of the people I know who proclaim loudly and often that they don't care what anybody thinks are arrogant jerks. It seems as though the vast majority of us tread the sheeple/jerk line reasonably well.

FINALLY

I'm also intrigued at how many people responded to this thread and didn't say anything at all about whether kilts and kilt-wearing had anything to do with their self image. That was, after all, My whole point. I'm not angry or upset at that, just intrigued at how many people either wrote down a list of things theat they feel "define them"...or said "I am ME" and little else, or cracked a joke...but nowhere in there was a mention of kilts.

Hmm.... I have no clue what that all means, but I find it interesting.

[Alan H]

Also, I don't think I have ever, in all my days, seen anyone who would CLAIM to be sheeple.

EVERYBODY claims to be unique and amazing and in my humble opinion, they are, and so then...who is left to be sheeple?

*wink*

This is distressing me...these unanswered questions. Perhaps I should declare myself to be the sheeple, and thereby become unique, since nobody else will own up to it. But then...by being unique, I wouldn't be sheeple any more. Besides, I wear kilts and I can't be a sheeple if I wear a kilt, can I? Or can I? Maybe I'm one of *THEM*; the kilted sheeple......Oh, this is making my head hurt.

Where's the Aberlour ten-year?