Robbie Burns and the Rebel Voice

Well today was Robbie Burns Day, the most sacred day of the Old Scottish Calendar.

And no doubt all over the world the Tartan Army was drinking heavily, and eating the horrible haggis.

But not me eh?

Because although I'm extremely proud of my Scottish heritage, I don't drink, I don't touch the awful offal. 

The offal in question is what was bobbing in the cauldron. It's organ meat – lamb kidneys, liver, hearts and lungs. Once they were darkly red, glistening specimens of varying texture: firm hearts; resilient, elastic kidneys; puffy, yielding lungs; glutinous liver.

And I'm more interested in the real Scotland, which is quite different than the folkloric version. And definitely more exciting.

But at least now we know what the bard really looked like. 

And as someone who hails from this small but proud place, where the North Sea meets the highlands...

(click pic to enlarge)

I know that in this land of poets and dreamers, and sailors and warriors, there's a Burns for EVERYONE. 

And what I take from him is the rebel voice. The man who opposed slavery, and was an early supporter of the French Revolution. The man who loved the common people, and mocked the strutting powerful.

Ye see yon birkie ca'd a lord, 
Wha struts, an' stares, an' a' that; 
Tho' hundreds worship at his word, 
He's but a coof for a' that. 
For a' that, an' a' that, 
His ribband, star, an' a' that, 
The man o' independent mind
He looks an' laughs at a' that.

Which no doubt helps explain how I feel about that absurd little man Stephen Harper.

Why I am so quick to join every popular movement from Occupy to Idle No More. 

In my search for a kinder, gentler, more just world.

Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a' that,) 
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth, 
Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.
For a' that, an' a' that, 
It's comin yet for a' that 
That man to man, the world o'er, 
Shall brithers be for a' that.

And why when that poem is sung by someone from the New Scotland, like Paolo Nutini, the pride of Paisley.

It's still moves me... 



So here's to Robbie Burns.

Down with the offal Cons. And the coof Harper.

Up with the rebels. And the Idle no More movement.

Scotland FOREVER...

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