Making a Difference Kilted

[Riverkilt]

So in my little town there's a class for the "hard cases" over at the high school. A friend of mine teaches it and for the last few years has been inviting me in once a semester to talk to the students about drugs and alcohol. This is no simplistic deal...like to tell them that "Just Say No" is like telling a clincally depressed person to "Have a Nice Day." I give them the hard facts about how inhalants kill kids, how chug-a-lug binge drinking kills kids, and how each of the various flavors of street drugs can and do kill and first aid for friends who might overdose at a party.

I always show up kilted. Yesterday wore my Gordon modern USAKilts casual with a white dress shirt and sleeveless dark green sweater...and gasp...white kilt hose with Gordon tartan flashes. Also wore black Z Coil shoes and the SWK nylon sporran.

When I first showed up the class was pretty sullen as one would expect from such a group of hard cases. A tough girl asked why I was dressed like that and just told her matter of factly that I was 62 years old and chose to dress comfortably. I also explained my Scottish, Irish, Welsh heritage.

That seemed to satisfy them and we moved on into my hour and a half presentation. Its getting pretty routine for me, but I have fun and enjoy giving the students straight answers to their questions and a few gory war stories.

Maybe they figure any olde bird that has the juevos to wear a kilt and Z Coils must know what he's talking about.

So today, I'm in the supermarket and a woman comes up to me and starts raving about how her son was in the class yesterday and how much he learned, and how he came home all excited about the class and related what he'd learned to her. She thanked me and said it seemed like he "got it" and she was hopeful he wouldn't fall into using drugs because of what he'd learned.

Her son must have said something about my kilt too....otherwise, she'd have no way of knowing who I was in the supermarket.

Ironically, I was just down on the Hopi Reservation again last weekend and a lot of folks there were calling me Mike, which is the name of the kilted teacher down there.

With all the other kilted in the classroom posts there's gotta be a doctoral thesis waiting for someone on the effectiveness of kilts in the classroom as a learning tool....or at least an attention getter.

Ron

[Big Dave]

That's a great thing you did for those kids Ron. Not many people are willing to tell the truth about the world to kids, let alone do it kilted.

[davedove]

Great job Ron!

I know you want to reach them all, but every person you reach is a success.

[mddock58]

Excellent! It is a great way to "Break through!"

[MacTavishOfJapan]

Excellent job Ron, you should be proud that you made a difference.

[Tattoo Bradley]

"First aid for overdose" now that's the "real world." Good job, Ron.

[ozmeath]

Your a good story teller Ron, I always enjoy your posts.
It's good of you to do the work you do, alot of kids only get the good side of drug use (not that I condone drug use kids!) but never hear the horror stories. I can imagine that the kilt would dissarm a crowd of cynical kids more than polarise them. It surely lightens the mood in any group I'm part of.
But those white hose just gotta go man...= )

[JimB]

Good on ya Ron.
These kids need to hear what you're telling them and you seem to have a very effective way of getting them to listen.

[Ialtog]

Have to chime in - your post really helped today. I came into the office and right off the bat was informed of the death of an old friend of mine from complications related to alcohol. It sort of took the wind out of my sails. I logged onto XMarks for my morning check in, feeling sort of numb, and came right to your post about reaching out to the next generation and giving it to them straight. Thanks for what you do and for your stories.

[GMan]

They for sure make a difference as has been said earlier Ron. I always have great dialog with many people to ease strange situations.