At 5’ 2’ I have never felt small because my older sister did me the favour of only growing to 4’11” (as mentioned in a previous post).
Surprisingly she didn’t feel small either.
I think her role model was our cat who never grew much past kittenhood but was the furry fiend of the neighbourhood. No one dared set foot, feline or felon unless they had been ‘passed’ by Freckles (named for the orange furry spots on her pretty face).
OR……. It might have been the role model of our Aunt Madge who also grew to the noble height of 4’11”.
I remember her in the church choir. She and our Uncle Ike made going to church an experience to be enjoyed as they loved me and my sisters and made us feel like royalty whenever they saw us.
However, once when a tall, new, young man joined the choir he had the temerity to ask her cheekily, “and how’s the weather down there?”
She drew herself up and before his horrified eyes, fuzzed up like an enraged small cat and …..SPPATTTT
an unladylike insult that had him scuttling into the shadows to lick his wounds.
She was the darling of audiences attending shows she often took the lead in, at the once famous Rowe theatre in Pietermaritzburg. Her nickname, muttered behind the scenes was, “the little pocket rocket” or occasionally as “dynamite in a small package” when people did not meet up to her expectations.
As her surprisingly deep contralto voice emerged from her small body and soared to the rafters of the theatre, hundreds of eyes teared up and applause would erupt like the crash of giant waves on rocks.
In my sister Vera’s case, she was a ballerina of note.
Pixabay
The male dancers were delighted to partner her as when they had to catch her mid flight, she was as graceful and light as a swallow on the wing.
She helped them look masterful on stage.
So my point is: many small people accept that they’ll never amount to much because they’re not noticed. Often, unattractive children are marginalised, teased and left out. Does this determine that they will continue to fail as they mature?
Other assumptions are often made:
Red haired means feisty
Rich and good looking assures the person of many friends
Italians are all good lovers
Is what you’re dished out with at birth, in your genes as it were, the major factor in who and what you become or is it the way in which you are brought up that determines whether you ‘get there.’ or not?
MY contention is that no matter what your outward appearance, sex, race or religion, it is the person who is confident, who likes being who they are, who listens more than they speak, laughs easily, accommodates others, who has the best chance in life.
That to a certain extent is inborn but absolutely requires regular support and encouragement. Blessed, and dare I say, rare indeed in our over populated world today, is the person who has that.
Our gift to someone is to believe in them, support them and encourage them to, as we often flippantly say, ‘reach for the stars.’
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