by Drew Olaviano
Hello! My name is Drew, and I stand at 4’11. Of course, being 4’11 often garners some unwanted attention, especially from those taller people. My height becomes even more distinctive now that I’m a senior. So, being at Piedmont Hills, a campus filled to the brim with my average heighted peers and taller peers, what’s it like? Well, let’s see.
Being inside of the school building with over thousands of students and staff bustling about each passing period, it’s obvious the shorter people suffer the most. I can attest to this, being a victim of constant shoving and pushing and backpacks slamming straight into my face. People bustle about and move constantly from place to place. Some stop to gossip and chat about life and whatnot, and then some turn—and as a result, run into me, who is unnoticeable to the naked eye is caught in the crossfire. They do not see the little me, and I get nudged as a result.
That’s not the only problem though. Other than how unnoticeable I am, people tend to have this need to tease their shorter peers. Anyone who is shorter than the average person can easily relate to these few phrases: “Hello, what’s up, midget,” “You look like a middle schooler” and “Where are you? I can’t find you!” I try to ignore them, but usually they end up being elbowed straight into the hip. I do not condone this though, I assure you. I’m just too short to not hit someone while walking, I’m sure.
The worst thing about being short, in my opinion, is that they still think I am in middle school, or even elementary school for that matter. Some people excuse it by saying that it is because I have a baby face or something similar, but I always believe that isn’t true—short people are usually attributed to younger people, especially kids. I was fine with it when I was a freshman. Freshmen came out from middle school and have to get around high school life. As a senior? I’m still being labeled as a middle schooler, and I have a hundred percent confidence that people will mistake me as a middle schooler when I’m in college in a few months. Is it the baby face? Possibly. Is it the short height? Oh, most definitely!
However, I know that being short shouldn’t matter that much to me. There are plenty of advantages to being short, after all! For one, being short in PHHS, and in general, means I can easily slip through crowds in the hallway. While all those tall people suffer trying to get through people, I can easily pass by them and get to my class. I won’t be blocked by all those bodies!
I can also bother people easily with the excuse that I can’t reach for a certain book or object. Being short does give you a legitimate excuse that you cannot grab something and you need to ask for help. While every other person cannot ask people to grab objects and do chores for them, I can, and that makes me satisfied for my height by its lonesome.
Well, as mentioned before, height should not matter; not to me, and not to you either. There are obvious disadvantages to being short, and there are disadvantages to being tall as well. To me, height shouldn’t matter to people much in comparison to people’s behaviors and how they treat one another. Every person is still an individual, and that’s all that should matter—how you treat one another, and how you behave.
The Legend Online 