Last to get rained on, first to drown, those under 5-foot 4-inches, the average height of an American woman according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, often find themselves ridiculed for no apparent reason.

            Between randomly being patted on the head or picked up as the result of some caveman impulse that somehow survived evolution, eating green vegetables, waiting to be tall enough to ride roller coasters, and always having a stepstool ready, short people are no different from anyone else.

            Height seems to be the one factor that society has never been able to shake. The average supermodel is 5-foot 10-inches, the same as the height of the average female basketball player. It may seem like short people are the left handers of the height spectrum in that the world isn’t designed for them.

            In fact, new studies from Finland have found that those under 5-foot 3-inches are at a 50 percent greater risk for heart problems than people who stand over 5-foot 9-inches tall. An Australian study also show that short people earn less money than tall people, as strange as it may seem. As a 5-foot 4-inch man referenced only as “Jeff” told ABCNews.com, “Being short is more akin to being disabled.”

            While Jeff’s comments are quite a stretch, they do have some truth to them. For men especially, being short often comes hand-in-hand with awkwardness because their average height is 5-foot 9-inches, five inches taller than women. I have often heard many girls say that they would never date a man shorter than themselves. But, when it comes to men, the trend tends to be that opposites attract when it comes to height. It’s not uncommon to see a short girl with a very tall man, but very uncommon to see it a short boy with a very tall woman.

            On the upside, other studies suggest short people have greater agility, make better distance runners, have a great chance of surviving an auto accident, are more flexible, tend to live longer, and have less of a negative impact on the environment than their taller peers. Also, those who have received the “short end of the stick” rarely have to worry about ducking for low branches or not having enough legroom on an airplane and are mentioned in ever R&B song.