Finally Letting Letting the Wildcat out of the Bag out of the bag.
This was a short doco that I wrote, directed and presented as part of my media degree and was my screen production major work for the second semester of 2010. I only put it online a couple of days ago and it’s view count is already in the triple digits! had the most fun in the world making it and I want to again thank everyone who was involved, especially my crew who were and still are my best friends. <3 :3
A while back, my mother’s cousin, who I haven’t seen since I was six, came over for dinner and the first thing first thing she said to me was, “Hello, Jocelyn. I expected you to be taller.” I was completely shocked and it was almost impossible for me not to say, “I expected you to be thinner.” But that would have been just rude. Why is it acceptable to tease someone about their height but weight is above limits? I can’t help my height but most people can help their weight.
I’ve been discriminated all my life, whether it was at school photo days or theme park rides. One time I was looking up at others, and they started looking up to see what I was looking at. Even on Facebook there are groups like “Tall people r betta than short people” and “Should short people be allowed in public?” It’s really hard to get respect when you’re short; people tell me I’m cute when I’m angry—I’m not Danny DeVito!
Some people are sympathetic with words like, “Good things come in small packages.” But they end up sounding like ads for Intel Core 2 duos.
I guess one thing that helps me is the knowledge that if there’s a terrorist attack on a plane I could hide in the overhead compartment. There are even medical benefits that Thomas T. Samaras (Director and Senior Researcher at Revantropy Associates in San Diego) discovered after 30 years of research: short people are less likely to break bones if they fall, have faster reaction times, have greater ability to accelerate body movements, are less likely to be injured in a car accident, and we live longer because bigger bodies need more cells and duplication of cells is limited. We are also more environmentally friendly because we deplete fewer resources.
For short girls there is also a larger selection of men because guys find us less intimidating and it brings out their protective side. Plus we can wear heels and never have to worry about being taller than our dates.
I like being able to sleep without my feet over the edge of the bed and I always feel like I’m a more positive person than someone who can see the dust on the top of the refrigerator. I like being able to limbo without breaking my back and dangling my feet on barstools. And I like reminding people that they don’t make diamonds as big as bricks.
So beware tall poppies, short people have nowhere to go but up and when we do we’ll be laughing. Laughing in our cheaper coffins.
But in the end I guess that really tall people are also victims. I know someone who gets “How’s the weather up there?” as often as I get “Don’t you eat spinach?”
Being short isn’t a big problem—it’s a small one.
