"We're all Scotland's Story"

 

Ed Miller, Jil Chambless and Scooter Muse

North Carolina, July 2012

Melanie and I have spent a wet weekend on Grandfather Mountain camping with our McPherson friends. Despite the Scottish weather it has been a lot of fun and we are driving home to Atlanta along the I-85. It is getting dark, the rain is still falling and we are listening to Ed Miller’s latest album, “Come awa wi’ me”. Ed’s a Scottish folk singer and a native of Edinburgh. He now lives in Austin Texas and performs on the Scottish festival circuit. Ed has a great voice and earlier in the day we had watched him perform with Scooter Muse and Jil Chambless.

 

One of the songs on Ed’s CD catches my attention. It’s The Proclaimer’s song, “Scotland’s Story”. It celebrates all the diverse folk who arrived on Scotland’s shores over the millennia and contributed to our heritage. It reminded me that my high school register in Edinburgh contained Mackies, Macphersons and Macdonalds as well as Di Rollos, Levinsons and Argwals. Whatever our cultural backgrounds, we were all proud to be Scots.

 

As we drive on back to Atlanta the thought occurs that Scotland has not only produced a world-wide diaspora, but she has also provided a home and refuge for people from all corners of the globe. It makes me proud that the Scottish hall of fame includes the likes of the sculptor Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, female engineer Mamta Singhal, the Harry Potter actress Katie Leung and the guitarist Mark Knopfler.

 

So in the words of the song Ed’s that singing, “We're all Scotland's story and we're all worth the same”.