Don’t Mistake a Short Man…

There is an interesting South African proverb that says: Don’t mistake a short man for a boy. This proverb implies that we consider size to be an indication of characteristics that are associated with children (inexperience, lack of strength, naievity, playfulness, innocence, dependence, curiosity, unconditional love etc.). In other words, our understanding of physical size and shortness is mediated by our understanding of children and then projected onto short grown-ups. Something similar happens in relation to our understanding of fictional small characters. Although these projections are not all negative they do make it very difficult to have a direct and open-minded perspective and see the individual for what they really are.According to the video below the original proverb has a trilogy of meanings that somehow all relate to the blindness created by prejudice.

1. Be careful of the tendency to underestimate those of smaller size. Greater height is often uncritcally presumed to be an indication of quality.

2. Sometimes a small tool is precisely what is needed for a certain task. Size-related quality depends on the task at hand, not on the size itself. Context matters.

3. Never underestimate experience. Many of the qualities we relate to large size are not related to size at all. Don’t confuse tallness as a sign of experience.