Have you ever tried to reach something, but been too short to reach it? That’s how I feel all the time. Whether or not it’s trying to reach one of the top cabinets in your kitchen, or trying to take something out of my your locker. It’s just hard.

Thats what it feels like all the time for me. I’m thirteen and I am about four foot nine. My height has been a problem for my whole life. I am always trying to reach something. My height may be a barrier for the rest of my life. Let me tell you, being short is not cool.

Ever since I remember, I have been made fun of for my size. I’ve been called many names, such as Leprechaun, Smurf, Shorty. Name it, I’ve been called it. I’m often found trying to get something back from someone, and they are normally holding it above their heads. In so many ways it irritates me, intensely.

Roughly, sixty to eighty percent of height is determined by genetics. It is also possible to gain a ratio of your height by adding five inches to my mother’s height, then averaging it with my father’s height. Then give or take two inches.

My doctor also recommended that I eat a balanced diet of fruit, vegetable, whole grain, dairy and protein. Caffeine can not stunt growth, but most drugs can stunt growth. One reason I’m thankful for being short is that the taller you are, the higher risk of cancer you have.

One of my favorite parts of the day is making fun of myself with short jokes, but sometimes they go a bit over my head. I’m constantly looking for jokes that can make people laugh, more so than the one I was told. It’s pretty fun to watch people become so shell-shocked that someone is able to make fun of themselves the way I do.

In many ways this has been a hard part of my life. I’m not claiming that my life is nearly as hard as quad amputee but it isn’t as easy as most may think. I may seem like my only problem is being able to reach things, but the bullying that is conceived from it is not fun. It is proven that when shorter, self-esteem and social-esteem is decreased due to height.

I exist in a huge struggle between name calling, things being taken from me and just the normal not being able to reach things triangle. Let me tell you none of these are fun. Maybe for the people saying it but not for the people receiving. This may seem like any normal bully case, and maybe it is, because what doesn’t cause bullying anymore?

Ever since I’ve started to make my jokes and mock myself, I have felt an ability to persist, to co-exist with a side of me, I wish there wasn’t. I have also become even more determined to take the higher road, and take the extra-step to leave them breathless.

I feel like one day, I will receive my potential. Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not even twenty years from now, but one day, I will reach it. I want to be a person that people look at and respect, somebody they can count on, somebody they can trust to do their job. To do that, I will have to live by nine principles. Jackie’s nine, courage, teamwork, persistence, determination, integrity, citizenship, justice, commitment, and excellence.

One day, I want to be able to tell my kids and their grandkids that, hey, I lived myself by the same principles Jackie Robinson did, and that this life was a great one. Not many get to say that about themselves, but I hope one day I will and it’ll be thanks to Jackie Robinson. So, Jackie, even though you yourself aren’t reading this, I would like to thank you for being someone that people can look up to. Maybe it’ll be me.