You will save neither the kilt nor the tartan by lamenting that a Scotsman does not wear them often enough. Don't suggest when or how he should wear it. Uh uh, Tell him he can't. Prohibit his wearing it, and HE will see to it that the kilt survives until the crack of doom. Lord bless him!

As another who posted to this thread, I am of mixed heritage: German, Scotch, Welsh, Swedish, and American Indian. I am not "part" Indian, else, I could tell you which part. I am not "part" Highland Scot; I am "also" Highland Scot. However, I would no more argue with Jock Scot's perspective on why the kilt is not worn more often in Scotland, than I would take my Indian cousins to task for not wearing feathers and bucksins as often as they might.

It is precisely because of that refusal to bow to any other wish or compulsion which has kept the Scottish kilt alive for all the rest of us. We have a kilted tradition because that unbending will was deeply, and individually held by Highlanders throughout the grim times of the Prohibition and the Highland Clearances. The Scots of my family came to America because they could not stay. I suspect that Jock Scot is where he is because his family WOULD not leave. Far be it from me to suggest when he should wear his national dress, or that he should wear his kilt for my reasons. I know what I feel when I see the kilt proudly worn, but I cannot begin to guess at what Jock Scot feels when he sees it . . . or what outlawed tunes he hears when the winds come over the heather.

I appreciate his comments and send my thanks to him . . . and to those like him.