Short VS TALL PEOPLE

Aniko LaFrance-Hernandez, writer for The Scroll, shares valuable insight on the social expectation of height and how it affects those who don't fit within a seemingly "normal" height standard.

Short vs tall people: How it affects kids' minds

By Aniko LaFrance-Hernandez

As we go through life, we are going to encounter people who will want to comment on our bodies. One of the most common attributes we judge people by is their height. Now, as some see it, this isn't right. Anywhere you go, there will be "short people" and "tall people." Why should we judge people in the first place, though? It’s not their fault they have certain genetics from their families; it is out of their control.

I have spoken with a few anonymous and known people around Grants Pass High School, and they have their own takes on what they experience on a day-to-day basis at school. I asked them all the same question, “Do people ever comment on your height here at school? What type of things do they say?”

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Ashley LaFrance-Hernandez, who is a Freshman, was able to reply to the idea of being targeted as short with a lot of emotion. She answers that she recieves comments “Every single day of my life. They say 'shortie'... 'goblin.' I forget half of them. They comment on my shortness 24/7. It's like they can't find anything else to say to me or even about me."

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Fernando Mendez, a Junior here at the high school, gets the opposite height recognition. He says, " They say, 'wow, you're so tall,' so I try to tell them that I am average in my height, but they just say the same thing. I used to be so short, the shortest in my class. They would call me a 'coward'... And since I've grown, I have been called 'sticks and bones.' So, I'm sticks."

Lastly, Maiya Jade, Junior, is willing to share her experience, as well. She replies, "As of right now, I don't get too many comments about my height. The most comments I have ever gotten were around middle school. [Those] comments would be from kids, mostly adults, or even family members. The kids would make funny jokes about my height because people were shorter than me. Sometimes, people would go as far to ask my shoe size. The most comments I get though are from the adults-- like which parent, or if I have any tall family members."

Whether someone is your best friend or a complete stranger you just met, you should always consider what you say and understand that joking about them may mentally affect them. It is so easy to make up new nicknames for people and, unless you have talked with them about how they feel about the names, hold off. There are people who will enjoy the jokes for a certain amount of time, and there are people who get exhausted from being considered the easy joke. There are also ways to make the jokes less severe. It is one thing to make a relevant joke, and it is another to call someone a name such as "gremlin." These people are not "overly sensitive" as some have said to me; these people have emotions and feelings. They should own their emotions and wear them freely. Commenters do not get to dictate which feelings matter and which ones do not.

The BBC article: "Tall vs short: Which is it better to be?" evaluates factors such as "money and power," "sports and athletics" and even your "lifespan and health." Yes, some of these are scientifically analyzed. This, however, is an ongoing conversation we have: why would we want to be short or rather tall? It seems to have both positives and negatives. At the end of the day, though, should it really matter? If a person is who they are because of their traits, like how charismatic or kind they are, why judge them based on the genetics they ended up with?

Everyone just wants to live their life, so stop asking them for their height, and ask them about their interests or hobbies instead.

Image: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Cory C. Asato

SOURCES:

BBC-Tall vs Short

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