Student Blog: The benefits of being short
Yep, I am short! And I鈥檓 not angry at my parents for these genetics either.
I鈥檝e always sat in the front row of school photos my whole life. And yes, I鈥檝e always had to get a hand when reaching for the food in the top shelf at Coles. But you know what, I own it now!
Good morning, everyone, I hope you have all had a great term so far. I got asked by Liv to do this speech a bit earlier than expected. Well, I freaked out because I didn鈥檛 know what to write. The other girls have already given such good speeches and I thought, well they鈥檝e just about covered everything. But then I looked in the mirror and thought, Soph, what鈥檚 special about you? Yep, I鈥檓 short! Now I can assure you all that I do get mildly teased about it. Even Annabelle said to me the other day, 鈥淪oph, for little corgi legs you cover a fair bit of ground.鈥 Cheers for the confidence booster Annabelle! Or when I was in a shop not long ago, one of the assistants was telling my mum and me that he is doing a Degree in Psychology. He asked me what year I was in. When I replied Year 12, he laughed at me and said, 鈥淗oly Smokes, you look like you鈥檙e in Year 9.鈥 Well needless to say I鈥檓 thinking Psychology may not be his best career.
But I鈥檒l have you all know that my height has been a real conversation starter. Some would say my height is imperfect, but I would say on the contrary, it鈥檚 鈥榩erfectly imperfect鈥. I will say it does look worse when in Business Lily and Heidi - two of the tallest girls in Year 12 - sit either side of me. However, I don鈥檛 let this bother me. I鈥檝e come to terms with my height. In fact, it can be a huge advantage and as Mr Millar says, much easier to dive in touch. Got a bit less distance to fall.
I鈥檓 not really someone who will take any sort of offence to being called short because well, firstly, I can鈥檛 change that I鈥檓 short and secondly, there are so many advantages to being short. My Nan who is shorter than me, believe it or not, still has hopes that I will grow a little taller. But I thought, I shouldn鈥檛 be the bearer of bad news, but this girl isn鈥檛 growing any time soon. Now I鈥檓 telling you these stories so that you all understand that to me, 鈥榩erfectly imperfect鈥 means working with what you鈥檝e got and making use of it. That not only applies to me being short of course, but for everything that you all do. Work with what you have and make those so called 鈥榠mperfections鈥 your perfections!
Dr Scott mentioned last week about life not always being fair and that it will not always go our way. For example, my family are farmers. And since last year, we鈥檝e been in one of the worst droughts we鈥檝e had in a long time. However, not once do I hear my parents saying that life is unfair, but instead they get up every day with a 鈥楻un at Life Head First鈥 attitude, even in tougher times. I know that it is tough on them when I ask them every night, 鈥淗ow was your day Mum and Dad?鈥 I always receive an answer about the things in their day that went right. I don鈥檛 know what all of you know about farming, but trust me, you won鈥檛 find a day when something hasn鈥檛 gone wrong. The tractor didn鈥檛 start or that sheep got out of the paddock or it didn鈥檛 rain again. I won鈥檛 know about this until I go home, but I idolise my parents so much for this, for always finding the best things in life.
But I would like to take this opportunity to expand on Dr Scott鈥檚 point that life is tough at times and it is imperfect. For many of you, you are all fighting your own battles and you might find yourself at times feeling like life is imperfect and it is. But you also have to understand that the majority of you are living in the top one percent of people. You are able to go home to a meal with loving parents who have sent you here to a school, where you are given opportunities that will set you up for life. You get to make friends for life and I can assure you, that overrides any imperfection any day.
We all have something to be so thankful for and by acknowledging this, you make those imperfections just that more perfect every day. So girls, own your imperfections. Make them your perfections. And when life doesn鈥檛 quite go your way, don鈥檛 give up! Keep running at life head first. That is perfectly imperfect.
Thank you.
Sophia (Year 12)
Prefect and Co-Captain of Boarding 2018/19