I always viewed the command the same way, but when I stopped wearing a full talit for shacharit I decided I still needed to make the tzitzit bracha so I started wearing a talit katan. Once I was wearing it for shacharit it began to seem natural to keep it on all day.

Women wearing shawls bothers me, but they can at least justify it because of time bound positive commandment exemptions. If someone does wear a talit then they should be wearing tzitzit on all four cornered garments. Which means if you have any traditional wool ponchos you should tie tzitzit on them(I know a guy who did this).