Posted on 10/04/2014 9:13:59 PM PDT by goldstategop
For the prime of a short man's life - Napoleon is the model here again - his shortness is not thematised at all. On horseback in the paintings by David or the Baron Gros, or enthroned by Ingres, Napoleon may look moon-faced, and the little ringlet that dangles above his eye may seem dandyish, but the last thing he looks is short.
It is only later on Elba and St Helena that his diminutive stature becomes part of his self-knowledge. The true Napoleonic moment is when age and circumstances conspire to remind the short man of his stature. It was when the emperor had lost the last battle that the truth returned. I am no longer an emperor. I am merely a short man on a lonely island.
So, short men learn early this essential truth - that long odds make for good lives. A man's mate should exceed his height, not to mention his little grasp, or what's a heaven for?
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
I do love the play on Robert Browning's most famous quote. I feel taller than I look with my little grasp.
My hubby is 6’4. I’d still love him the same if 5’4.
& he’s an amazing husband. I fell in love with him, not his height.
My Dad is 5’7. My parents have been married 50 years so guess the better husband thing is to each their own.
My wife’s ex was a 5’4” runt who turned out to be an alcoholic and a cheat. She is 5’7” and I’m 6’2”, which is a better match.
I fail to see why differences in heights make any more of a difference than other physical characteristics such as eye or hair color.
The sole exception I could see is if the couple were obsessed with having sexual intercourse only in a standing position. Then vast height differences could be problematic.
Btw, I read some article long time ago about if you chose a shorter guy & not the cutest guy in room..that you’d be happier in long run because he would try harder to make you happy & would treat you like a queen.
Think it was some Cosmo trash while I was getting my nails done. I remember laughing to myself because the author of article was totally serious!
Worked for a short guy. He had the disease. Took Karate’. Tried to disarm two guys robbing his wife’s parent’s restaurant at 3am. Bullet between the eyes. Gone.
“...his uxorious devotion to his wife Josephine, whom he left only because he wanted to leave the French with a male heir.”
Yeah. He was a keeper. Let’s not forget that even when his French wife gave up her lovers, he refused to give up his. Then he abandoned her because his ambitions were greater than his vaunted devotion. Napoleon is not the guy you should look to for any moral or marital guidance. And most short men aren’t even slightly comparable to that megalomaniac.
It makes sense. The less options you have in life, the more you will value those options. The ones who can walk away more easily will be more casual about the other person.
Simply put, people who try to be good spouses are going to be good spouses.
I think a lot of us men fool ourselves about what our exact height is. I recall as I was growing up, my Dad always described himself as ‘six feet tall’. Even as a child of eight or nine, I could see that he was nowhere near six feet, and I could see that this number meant a lot to him, so I kept my mouth shut like a good boy.
I grew up to be about his height, and for years, through art school, through the navy, I described myself as being “Five-Eleven’. I lied for so long, I started to believe it myself. I’m now 58. About six years ago, a nurse assistant at Kaiser took my height on one of the old fashioned scales where you lift this metal lever to sit on top of the head. She measures my height, and (loudly!) announces my height as being a whopping “Five feet, Eight inches tall”. I about died in a silent state of shock. Five eight?? Why, that’s almost elfin, only a bit more than Aboriginine!! I faked a casual voice and said “Oh, I was moving around when you took my height. Would you please take it one more time with me standing still? “Sure!” This time, it measured Five seven and three quarters!! I stopped asking at that point. Now, I don’t lie anymore. I’m too old. I’ve accepted that it is my fate to be only Five-Eight.
I get the premise but it was the way the article was written.
Almost like, just settle and you’ll be happier.
I was warned years ago by a very experienced pastor in his 80’s, watch out for short men. In most cases, he was right.
5’18” here and never had problems getting a date.
A short rich man is tall enough when he stands on his wallet!
Do only date women below 4'24"?
My husband is short. He always says he’s tall enough, his feet touch the ground.
Ha ha, my husband always said he was 5’7”, I believed him then our boys both got as tall as he was and I measured them and they were 5’6”. I razzed him and he said he’d never measured himself without his boots on.
My husband has 5 brothers, three of the boys are above 6’ and 3 three are under 5’10”. All are barrel chested with very broad shoulders so you don’t really notice that some are shorter than the others. I would say that all seem to be good husbands regardless of their height.
Funny thing is that three wives are average to short, and we married the tall ones, while the three wives who are taller than average are married to the shorter brothers.
What I lack in height I make up for in length.
There were a lot of very angry short people on the march when that song came out. That song was played everywhere for a while, the way “Happy” was played a few months ago. The short lobby was livid!
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