On Saturday, we teamed up with friends and drove out to the local Scottish Festival / Highland Games, which were held in a local park. Our discussions on the way home took an interesting turn.

Do we, as a society, find our current lives so drab and boring that we find a need in ourselves to dress up and play make-believe with the past? Have our modern conveniences cheapened and sanitized our lives to the point that we have to turn to the simplicity and rusticity of the past to find meaning and enjoyment?I walked around the Scottish Festival and felt myself somehow out of place in my t-shirt, worn sneakers, and denim shorts. Around me were people decked out in clothing that we now perceive as regalia: kilts, swords, hip purses (for men as well as women), knee-length stockings, highly polished shoes.