🚀 go-pugleaf

Why being short sucks.

One of the harshest facts of life, is the fact that there is no built-in 
justice in the world.  There is no "level playing field."  Some get a 
head start, and others start out a mile behind the line.  If you have a 
disadvantage, you get used to it.  You compensate for it as best you can, 
and have a life.

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...