Short and Tall - Who Really Cares?

I used to think nothing of my height. I knew that, standing 5'8" or 5'7", whatever I am, I wasn't going to be the tallest guy in a room. Unless I was in Guatemala, or Japan, or perhaps in a room full of pigmies. Hell, I knew it from kindergarten on, when we would have to line up in order of height, with the shortest people in the front. I was almost always in the first five people, amongst a bunch of short girls.

I never cared. I didn't even really think twice about it. One of my closest friends stands 6'5". We would always play basketball against each other. I won just as many times as I lost, hell, I may have even won MORE than I lost. And when I got to law school, I somehow managed to become friends with yet another 6'5" basketball player. When I lived in England, the guy I hung out with the most? A 6'4" Jewish kid from New Jersey.

I mention that I never "cared," use of the past tense intentional. One of my recent girlfriends, who we will affectionately/bitterly refer to as "Trainwreck" (for a number of reasons, perhaps best addressed in my next posting), informed me that I wasn't tall enough for her taste. I've had girls tell me that they are usually into tall guys and I'm the first short guy they've dated. But that was always in the context of them liking or being attracted to me. This was the first time that somebody had basically said, "You're too short to be good enough for me."

From that day on, I've noticed. I've noticed when people are taller than me, when I'm in a bar full of tall people, or whether I'm taller than the girl I'm dating. Suffice to say that I no longer wish to go to the Red Door, as being 5'7" makes me feel like a lost child wandering through a crowd. Since that terrible day when I learned that my height might actually effect the way a person thought about me, the impact has dulled to some degree. I always knew height was a factor in judging people, I just assumed that I could rise above it (haha, no pun intended). I now notice height, but less than I did at first.

And today, we have this article explaining that Americans are no longer the tallest nation in the world. Great. I am already short for the country I live in. Now I get to be even shorter by comparison when I go abroad? Am I going to have to limit my travels to indigenous areas of Latin America, where I can faithfully know that I will stand at least six inches above most adult men? I'm not sure how I feel about this development. Did I not get proper nutrition as a child? Was I not drinking enough milk?

You know what? Who cares. I'm short and I'm okay with that. At least I'm taller than my mom.