Leigh Community Schools Logo

Student Opinion Column: “Being Short”

By: Emily Loseke, junior at Leigh High School on September 11, 2019

Launch the media gallery 1 player

Picture this: It’s a home volleyball game, the bleachers are full, and almost everyone has a roster with the players’ information. I grab the paper and start skimming through the names, and then I stop. In amazement I read: “Emily Loseke, height 5’ 4,” and just like that I’m a giant and have grown four inches.

As a junior in high school, I’ve become accustomed to the skyscraper bookshelves, the struggle of finding the right size of clothes, and the towering fourth graders. I’ve even grown to enjoy short people jokes such as, “That subject was over your head? Well, most things are” or “Reach a little higher; five feet is a high demand.”

However, what I’ve never understood is the association between height and smarts or athletic ability. I’ve always believed that just because I’m shorter than the average person, doesn’t mean I’m any less of a person than they are. No matter what, I shouldn’t use my height as an excuse to abandon my dreams. 

As my basketball coach once said, “How tall are you, Em? Well, believe you’re 5’ 4.” Don’t let it stop you.” Of course, I like to think I didn’t. 

And just like that, I realized I love challenging the impossible. I personally like to step onto the track and show them what I can do. When you’re five-feet-tall and standing by giants, others can’t help but look at you, and when I succeed, it makes people look at me and not my height.

Even so, being tall isn’t all fun and games either. Tall people hit their heads on doorways and are always found in hide and seek. So while being short doesn’t always measure up, I know that I can, no matter what my height is.

So for anyone out there who thinks they’re too short or small to change the world, I have only one thing to say:

Grab a ladder and get over it. The smallest words can change the world, and so can the smallest of people. People of my stature are in “short” supply, and there might be those who think “little” of me. But as life goes on, I’ll let them do the measuring, not me.