Walk tall (a second look)

Sherri T.

Two small words have helped shaped my personal and professional life. They are lessons from my mother who taught me to walk tall. 

 Of course, I didn’t appreciate her words at the time. In fact, they were conveyed more as thoughts. It is only now that I can really hear what she was saying.

 I am only 5’ tall − if I can use that word.

 I am 5’1” when I straighten my shoulders and stretch my body.

 I am 5’2” when I fill in forms or calculate my weight on charts. So what if I squeeze in two little inches on paper?

 Now all this may sound like small talk − so to speak − but there is really more to this story than meets the ear.

 When I was growing up, I used to complain to my mother about the many disadvantages that came with my height (or lack thereof). I was the last picked for the school basketball team. I was always in the front row in school pictures. Every new pair of pants came with an additional seamstress bill. 

 Mom would always reply (because the complaint was made more than once) with the same refrain: “Just remember that height is measured from the neck up.”

 She used to make me angry when she said that because I had no idea what she was talking about. It is only now − in retrospect and later in life − that I understand and appreciate what she was trying to say. 

 She was basically telling me to walk tall. 

 Walking tall actually has nothing to do with walking. Nor does it have anything to do with tall.

 Walking tall is about taking the high road. It is about acting with wisdom. Your stature in this world is measured not through inches but through a different yardstick: your humanity.

 Walking tall is about being a good human being. It is about having the right values that respect people, that respect difference and that appreciate people for who they are − not for what they have.

 Mom’s words were short and small. But they were large and profound in their meaning.