Short People

While Jeremy's parents were here, we toured multiple places that showed us how small people used to be. At the Getty Center, we saw some old clothes and beds that were very small. At the Huntington art museum, we saw some chairs and clothes that were also very small. And, at the San Gabriel mission, we saw some monastic robes, beds, and doorways that were the smallest yet.

Look how short this doorway is. (You may also notice how cute my husband is, too, but that's beside the point. I believe this is his this-picture-is-stupid face.)

Believe it or not, I don't think the "Low door, watch your head" sign is original.

I've known this is true for a long time, but it always takes me by surprise. I think I first learned this when we went to the Little House on the Prairie house and some of their dresses and shoes were there. And they were tiny. I know that many of the years of my life have been spent getting used to Dutch people, which are remarkably larger than the average human, even today. In Pella, IA and at Calvin College, I was of average height at 5'8". Now that I'm in LA, which I think gives a relatively good cross-section of humanity, I'm very tall. I'm not sure how I feel about that, actually.

Also, I know that this mostly has to do with the fact that we have better nutrition today than we did in the 1800s. Well, not the Dutch people thing - we're just big people, I think - but, I mean, people in general.

It all makes me wonder, though, how tall someone like Goliath really was. If we're so much taller than people in the 1800s or even 1900s, how much taller are we now than the BC people? Maybe David was really like 3'7" and Goliath was just 5'8" like me, but they thought he was a giant. Maybe if David went to Calvin College, he'd be terrified at all the giants.

I'm trying to think of a way to wrap this all up, and I can't. Just random thoughts to share with you, Anna and Hehoff, my only readers.

The end.