The Baltimore Sun reports on the debate among pediatric endocrinologists about whether to treat extremely short children with human growth hormone, even if there is no underlying medical reason.
Most parents probably want their children to be tall, and height confers some advantages in life – especially in the NBA. But there is no science that tells us short people are any less happy than tall people. Arithmetic does tell us, however, that not everyone can be above average.
We know about the neurosis known as “short man’s disease,” but the question here is whether being well below average height really is a medical condition and to what extent we will keep searching for the Holy Grail from which to drink and eat — like Alice — so we may grow tall or grow short.
Yes, for some it may be a small world after all, but there is something short-sighted when a child’s shape bends parents out of theirs.