How Did You Select Your First Kilt?

[tripleblessed]

[QUOTE=Karl R;1370473]This may not have been your intent, but your statement comes across as extremely judgmental.

If I agreed with you on any of that, I wouldn't own a kilt. Given that Bluethunder90 specifically stated that he's not of Scottish descent, he's probably not choosing a tartan as an act of self-definition.

Out of all the possible statements my kilt can possibly make, the one that most closely represents who I am (and what I care about) is this:
[I]"If you're going to judge me negatively because of my appearance, then I don't care what your opinion is.QUOTE]

The question was asked here, not out on the street. It is a fact that those statements and sentiments are said here.
Not judgments, just what can be read. The question was what people here consider when choosing one's first kilt.
My intent was to be informational, not judgmental. It is almost never my intent to be judgmental. I certainly wouldn't
be accurate if I said it's never happened, but in nearly 72 years I've said many things that did not come out as intended.
Or were heard to have meaning that never entered my mind. I have spent more than half my life being asked for help
with finding ways to improve the quality of one's life. Forgoing judgment is pretty high on that list. I work at it. I'm
better than fair at it. Rarely met is the man who is perfect.

The OP stated he wants military tartans to reflect his service, indicating that he is taking symbolism into account in his
choice. He asks our thoughts. I offered some. You ask for my knee-jerk reaction to a photo that doesn't appear here
or by link, and yet the answer is simple. Like most people everywhere, I recognize very few tartans. Some folk here
know more than most, but there are thousands. My statement speaks to the that very fact - few will recognize any
tartan you choose, but you can count on being asked what tartan it is, and/or why you chose it. I think I can say with
a fair amount of certainty that many will have a judgment about your choice, rightly or wrongly. In that example, I am
betting those questions will arise. I clearly stated I am willing to support any choice one makes; I am advising clear and
broad thought should the choice be other than one's clan, district, or service affiliation. Some of the questions will get
old very quickly, but are easily avoided by careful consideration beforehand.

Should you care to look through the pictures from past Stone Mountain Highland games and the Conyers Celtic Tavern
gatherings and Burns suppers, you will will see I am much closer to your position on other peoples' opinions than you
apparently gathered from this one post. More clearly, I don't care so much what your opinion is, only that should you
choose to have one that it be based in some awareness of the relevant facts. I do have a willingness to discuss it with
you at great length, as long as we both can hang with it. My respect for who anyone is is pretty large, and I'm always
interested in how someone has come to be who they think they are, and how accurate their assessment is.

And note my close in the quoted post. I am (hopefully) clearly saying these are my own thoughts. They may not be
worth as much you paid for them, but they were offered in good faith, good intent, and good humor. If unsatisfactory,
I will happily refund as much of the purchase price as I can muster.

Should you make it this far from home, please let us know far enough beforehand to get a kilt night together. Others will attest to having had a pretty good time with us, and you'll find I don't bite. Or at least, not often. And not without appropriate foreplay.