🚀 go-pugleaf

Michael Johnson wrote:
> 
> All this talk of being short is really interesting.  Everyone seems to feel
> being short is a disadvantage.  So then why do so few people feel that
> being Black (or Native American, or Mexican) is not a disadvantage.  Every
> whine here has been echoed for years by Blacks and other minorities and no
> one seems to believe them or care.
> 
> Oh well,
> 
> A SHORT, Black Man
> 
> ming of mongo <ming@server.snni.com> wrote in article
> <5a5epn$4s9@news.snni.com>...
> > Why being short sucks.
> >
> > <SNIP>
> > There is, however, always a nagging little daemon sitting on your
> > shoulder, saying, "why you?"
> >
> > The thing that really bugs you is that there are plenty of people out
> > there who don't have to compensate for anything, and you do.  There are
> > people who can sit by the pool sipping martinis, while you work eight
> > hours a day for a few bucks.  There are people who can get any job they
> > want because their parents know the right people, but your parents know
> > the checkout clerk at Walmart.  And, of course, there are guys who can
> > make a girl go all giggley just by being tall, while you have to fight an
> 
> > up-hill battle just to start a conversation.
> >
> > I have always managed to put myself in situations where height is less of
> 
> > a primary issue.  As an artist, musician and writer, I can more easily
> > display more sides of myself in a more public way than most guys can, and
> 
> > therefore 'get the girl' more often than if I lacked those skills.  But
> > when I think of the effort it takes me to stack the deck enough so that I
> 
> > have an even chance, I feel sick inside.  Over 20 years of training,
> > experience and practice, and, if I may say so, a greater than average
> > natural aptitude for the arts...  all does not quite equal a few inches
> > of height.
> >
> > I am good enough at my job that I can't be ignored, but I often see
> > other people who manage just as well with less skill and effort.  Am I
> > envious?  YESSS!!!! Damn straight!  What I wouldn't give to avoid, just
> > for a few days, the feeling of always swimming against the current.
> >
> > I sometimes wonder what I might have otherwise done with all the effort I
> 
> > have put into compensating for my height.  Some people may say that I
> > have improved myself greatly in ways others do not, on account of this
> > compensation, but I am not so sure.  After all, if my only motivation was
> 
> > getting laid, or public attention, the effort expended far exceeds the
> > return.
> >
> > An illitterate man can learn to read.  A weak man can lift weights.  What
> 
> > can a short man do?
> >
> > I would feel different about it if there were some practical advantage to
> 
> > height, but in modern society... there isn't.  I have worked jobs ranging
> 
> > from construction to mechanical engineering, and I have yet to find
> > anything I couldn't accomplish.  If taller men ACTUALLY WERE better than
> > me in some respect, I wouldn't feel the total exasperation of the thing.
> >
> > I have probably rambled enough.  The truth is, I don't spend my days
> > thinking about being short.  I am too busy.  But there are times when it
> > hits you, and takes the wind out of you.
> >
> > I just wanted to do what I can to make it known that being short in this
> > society (probably most societies) costs a man dearly.  A debt he does not
> 
> > incurr, but must pay nonetheless.  I have been told that it is all in my
> > head, but if that was true, I could get it out of my head and be done
> > with it.  It is all in everyone's head...
> >.....................................................................
What people will admitt and what is fact are two very different things.