Friday, October 19, 2007

Over His Head?

James Lileks ponders his life as a short, but not a little, person. An excerpt:

There doesn’t seem to be anything in this piece that suggests short people have an unhealthy attitude to life. It just says the shrimps think they’re less healthy. We’re not talking about people like me, who stand at a Napoleonic 5’4”, but the Lollypop Guilders who top off at 5’3”. It seems that they have more difficulties in education, employment and relationships. Really? Education? Well, yes, you get picked on in school, but it’s not like you fail college because things most people would understand go right over your head. Employment? Probably; taller, better-looking people will always have an advantage over those of us in the Leprechaun range. Relationships? There are lots of short women out there. I had no trouble finding women my height, and even dated a few who made me feel like Charlie McCarthy. People would look at us and think: at the end of the night, she puts him away in a suitcase. I married a knockout brainiac an inch or two shorter, and we match well. We don’t look tiny. We look like actors from an HO gauge production of “Land of the Giants.”

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