Why I Decided to address heightism

Here is why I decided to address heightism. As I was growing up, I did the same thing many of us did and listened to people who said that I should "Try not to think about my height," or "try not to let it bother me." (Most of you here probably had to listen to similar nonsense.) Eventually, as I became a student of human nature and a confident person, I realized that people telling me not to think about or talk about a trait that constantly gets brought up about me, were depriving me of the chance to speak about my personal experience. Why should people who make hateful comments be given a pass on degrading me, while I was being told that I had something wrong with me if I took exception to such comments? Why was I being shunned for mentioning incidents that actually happened to me while the people who perpetrated these acts were given clemency? Why should people from almost every other marginalized group in society be praised for clearing obstacles, when I am expected to believe that I deserve to have obstacles in front of me because of a perceived "natural inferiority," on top of being expected to just accept such treatment by "knowing my place in the world?" How many times can I be expected to silently deal with the fact that my opinion would be disregarded in many conversations whether the topic is literature, sports, romance, etc because someone merely stated "Shut-up little man." The way the world expected me to just sit back and take such harsh discrimination while diagnosing me with a fake "complex" when I took exception to such treatment, defied every school of logic and common sense that I had adopted into my psyche. About a year or two ago, is when I finally started learning about and addressing heightism. How dare people tell me that I have no right to speak of my own experience and put labels on me that have nothing to do with who I am inside? Why am I expected to hold my head in shame while society views me as inferior no matter what I accomplish? Fighting heightism is very frustrating at times. Even a lot of our short brothers and sisters would prefer to just shelf the issue as if it doesn't exist. However, even though it's frustrating to address the issue, I can't find it in myself to stop. Anytime in life that you find something that frustrates you, yet you still want to keep pressing forward, you have found a wonderful outlet for your passion and an endeavor where you can carry the torch of progress. So essentially, that's why I'm here. I am very thankful for the chance to be part of this group and hope we can all help steer society's dialogue in a more productive direction. I also am looking forward to building friendships with other like-minded individuals