So I’m leaving work yesterday and walking down the stairs to the central corridor to the lobby. As I’m walking down the corridor, people are exiting from other doors, also heading to the lobby. As I amble along, I notice something is just a little bit different, and I finally put my finger on it. By some random chance, everyone around me is shorter than me.
I’m 5’8" and change. My height used to bother me a lot when I was a teenager and most of my male friends sprouted up in their fifteenth or sixteenth year, while I was left the same height I’d been since I was thirteen. Now, I generally don’t even think about it, especially considering that being a little below average height is pretty small potatoes as far as physical traits go. If I’m standing in a group of people in places like the French Quarter at Mardi Gras, I accept with equanimity that I have to jump up to see the floats, stand on a box, or elbow my way to the front. No big deal.
But, I tell you, yesterday, just for a minute or two, I got an inkling of what the world is like for my 6’2" friends. And I *liked *it – surveying the domain of the corridor as far as I could see, looking over everyone else. A minute later, of course, the corridor filled with the usual sampling of short, medium, and tall people, and I returned back to the world of looking at the back of heads.
As someone at 6’ and change, I can tell you that being tall is really only something you think about when trying to get stuff off of shelves and looking for people in stores. The rest of the time, everyone is either at eye level or below, and they all merge into one giant blob of height.
There was at one time a guy who worked in my building who had to be several inches taller than me - not 6’5" sort of taller, I’m talking 6’10" or more. I had to look up at him. I’m not sure I’ve ever had to do that to anyone else, so it kind of freaked me out.
Heh, I was over at a friend’s for dinner a couple months ago, and had the same experience. I’m a little over 5’6", not short for a woman but not incredibly tall either. All the other women there were under 5’3". I felt like a giant. It was kinda fun.
I also have another group of friends where all the women are like 5’9" or taller. I’m the shrimp when I’m with them. I like the first group better, at least in terms of height.
I’m 5’4" and recently had a similar experience - at work, with one of the V.P.'s (my size exactly); our outside network consultant; and two cablers, and these last three were several inches shorter than me.
Very disorienting - I zoned out of the conversation for a bit. (“Holy crap! I can see the tops of their heads!”)
I guess we all have something to feel inadequate about, when we have to. As a somewhat tall guy (a mere 6’ 4",) I can tell you that I rarely think about people’s heights. I absolutely don’t think of people as inferior to me because of their size.
Genetic things are a crapshoot. Height is not something I accomplished. It’s what I happened to get.
I’m 5’10" and while that’s very average here in the Good ol’ States, I felt like a titan living in India for a year. I think the average male height is somewhere around 5’6" and rare did I see anyone topping the 6’ mark.
Obviously there are advantages and disadvantages to both. Sure, physical size is generally (erroneously) associated with a bevy of other positive characteristics, but anyone who has ever been on a 13 hour plane ride will tell you that the shorter folks clearly have the edge.
I had the reverse experience once. I am 6’4" tall, and someone I met on an airplane invited me to a “tall club” meeting. As it turns out, men must be at least 6’4" tall to join, and women must be 5’10" tall. There were over 50 people there, and I was the shortest man in the whole place! There were several women taller than me. It was surreal.
Several years ago we had several high school students attend our school from Croatia to play basketball. I am a 5’9" female, and used to being taller/nearly as tall as most kids. These guys were 6’10" – 7’2". It was very surreal to chew out a sixteen year old as I’m talking to his navel.
I’m 5’3. I was once walking through the supermarket, and these two wizened little old ladies asked me to get something off the shelf for them. Made my day. I was like “I’m the tall person!! I’m the tall person!!”
Sigh As someone who is 5’1", I can seldom get to do even do that…
Although it is disconcerting, when I’m wearing heels (and therefore add 2"), when I see guys who are less tall than me, at Latin Nights… And at least they have a better reason to be staring at my chest, as it IS at their eye level.
