Kilts and Self-Identity

[Erisianmonkey]

Who am I?

I am a born-again Pagan.

Despite having a multitude of races blended in me, I am a proud Celt.

I am a "goth."

I am separate from the herds of sheeple you see passing everyday.

Does my kiltwearing constitute a definition of myself? No. It is instead a tool that I can use to express what is inside me. There are several tools that I use to silently express my identity outward: my long hair and beard, my mostly black clothing, my pentacle, and my kilts.

It becomes a question of direction. Do my clothing choices affect my inner identity? No, they do not. I am the same person whether I am in a kilt or in the accursed things. I am the same person whether I am sensibly dressed in all black or strutting colors like a peacock. I am not Samson, I will not be immeasurably weakened by the cutting of my hair. My pentacle...well, those of you Christians who wear a cross tell me. I wear a pentacle for much the same reason. (Besides that, even though you cannot see it, I have a pentacle you cannot strip away from me residing forever on my right thigh.) My kilt is not my blood, I will still be a Celt, kilted or no.

Coming from the outside however, there is something very different going on. When someone starts attacking clothing and appearance choices from the outside, there is a lumping together that is done. The cutting of long hair is often called "cleaning up," although the vast majority of people that I know with long hair keep it scrupulously clean, those of you who wear or have worn long hair know why. People trying to get colors into my wardrobe (--pre-kilt--now I wear colors because I have another way to set myself apart from the sheeple--) thought that it would "lighten me up" or some such tosh. The people who want to strip away my pentacle think that I will undergo a sudden conversion. (No, I am not exaggerating, the one and only time I've ever gone to jail, that was the deputy's excuse for taking away a religious article- despite the screaming illegality and the fact he let my Catholic cellmate keep his rosary.)

Do I define myself internally as a kiltwearer, no. Do the fierce sheeple who want me to be the same as they define me by my kiltwearing, yes. Will I fight tooth and nail any attempt to let them define me? You can bet your life on it.

[ccga3359]

"You are who you choose to be"

Iron Giant c1999

[Panache]

"You are who you choose to be"

Iron Giant c1999

SUPERMAN!

Cheers

Jamie

(Just love that movie...)

[brandycr]

I am a mother .
I am a daughter.
I am a teacher.
I am a seeker of knowledge and truth.
I am a lover of nature.
I am a lover of books.
I am a creative soul.
I am a Friend.
I am openminded.
I am someone who embrases the unknown .
I am a activist.
I am a loving soul.
I am someone who will play in the rain.
I am someone who will sing badly and dance my kids around to Otis ,Percy,or Solomon anyday.
Geez these I ams could last forever over all I am a soul placed here by a higher being to spread love hapiness and understanding and to love everyone no matter who they are .

[andyfg]

Alan, thanks for starting a great thread (and all others for posting).

Funnily, I have been thinking about the same thing recently and have been playing around with the ideas of the “I” and the “me.” The “I” being who I am in the deepest sense of the self: that which is unchanging; the “me” being that sense of self that changes with passing attachments.

If that makes sense, then kilt wearing is very much an attachment. Five years ago I did not wear kilts, today I do. In five years time, who knows? If kilt wearing (or any other attachment) is taken as defining of the “I,” we head for trouble. If kilts are taken away, or we cannot afford the next one, or our significant other bans them (heaven forbid!) then our sense of self is shaken at the least.

In the other posts, folk say generally “I am . . .” an activity (this is what I do, and what I do shapes who I am) or “I am . . .” a virtue (this is what I am like, and what I am like defines me). I suspect that even activities and virtues belong to passing attachments. Today I am angry, tomorrow I am happy, next Tuesday I am more loving. Yet, none of that is “I,” for “I” can look at “me” when I am more loving or sad. Thirty years ago I was a bank clerk, twenty years ago I was a minister, today I am a philosophy professor. Yet, even those relate to the “me” and “I” look on them with interest. They pass too. Kilt wearing, in this sense, cannot define the self.

Cheers!

[cessna152towser]

Like a few others here I'm a retiree fulfilling life's ambitions at last. I wanted a career in the aviation industry but was told there was no job security in flying and I should qualify in law first, just like the M.D. of the airline I worked for at weekends. Graduated in law and served apprenticeship in a family law office, which I loathed, then made a career in local government, initially as a schools lawyer in the west of Scotland which took me to Oban, Campbeltown, Islay, Mull, Tiree etc. and I enjoyed the short hops back and forward to the islands and the Kintyre peninsula on the aeroplane as a passenger. Eventually ended up as manager of a Town Hall. Retired after 30years at 53, since when I've set up my own law firm providing specialist legal services to the public sector on a consultancy basis and got involved in aviation part-time both as a private pilot and an air museum volunteer. My only wish that my wife was still more mobile to share in more of my travels (she had a stroke in 1999 which affected her right side). Kilts were just something my wife coaxed me to wear when we used to go to Scottish Country Dancing, then I eventually discovered their comfort for workwear and casual wear, and now the people who know me through work or leisure expect me to be kilted when they see me.

[Kornbread]

I think I am Popeye.Cause, I YAM WHAT I YAM.

[RockyR]

I am separate from the herds of sheeple you see passing everyday.

Does my kiltwearing constitute a definition of myself? No. It is instead a tool that I can use to express what is inside me....

Do I define myself internally as a kiltwearer, no. Do the fierce sheeple who want me to be the same as they define me by my kiltwearing, yes. Will I fight tooth and nail any attempt to let them define me? You can bet your life on it.

I think I am Popeye.Cause, I YAM WHAT I YAM.

Great lines... and to add another one to the mix... "tis himself".

Bottom line... I don't try to define myself or label myself b/c I'm ever changing and evolving. Also, WHY label yourself or define yourself? Do you need to? Is there a reason you have to?

Be what you are and who you are and don't worry about others. That's what makes wearing kilts so great... as Erisianmonkey said, it's a tool we use to set us apart from others. Culturally, socially, etc... it's a fun way to be different. Does it define me (well... it kind of does define ME since it's my job)? No. Does it ADD to who I am? Yes.

When I started wearing them about 5 years ago (aside from cultural reasons and comfort reasons), I used it as a tool... I was decidedly different and knew that those who couldn't handle it wouldn't speak to me... it was an easy way to filter them out and find out who I DIDN'T want to speak to ANYWAY!

Don't let kilts define you... don't let ANYTHING or ANYONE define you. Once you're defined, there's a preceived notion of who you are and what happens when that changes? Just be.

****soapbox mode off****

[cloves]

hrmmmm......I'd like to "think" I am a warrior. Albeit a peaceful one.
Why? uhm...well much like when AlanH said being a builder/creator encompassed many facets of his life.....I think the term "warrior" works much the same for me. Besides the fact that for as long as I can remember I've enjoyed things of a "martial" nature....I always seem to be bucking trends and butting heads.
Always fighting for what I think is correct.

My self identity isn't about the kilt itself, so much as the need for me (or anyone) to be able to wear it politically, and about me defending that right.

[McClef]

Kiltio Ergo Sum.

I Kilt, therefore I am.