Of Dwarfs and Giants

Many traits distinguish people from each other. There are external traits allowing us to establish a physical picture of the person: tall or short, fat or thin, black or white… There are also internal traits forming the spiritual and emotional profile of a person: calm or fiery, generous or stingy, egoists and altruists… All these criteria are, at varying degree, subjective and prone to interpretation based on cultural and geographical context.

In my life, I have been around different people, from different cultures and identities, from different social and economical backgrounds, poor and rich, scholars and illiterates, intelligent people and Idiots, good people and evil ones, youngsters and elderlies, white collars and blue collars, entrepreneurs and heirs, presidents and doormen, … From all these contrasts, there was one contrast that caught most of my attention, the one that opposes the DWARFS to the GIANTS of this life.

This duality triggered a deep and constant reflection on how to distinguish between the GIANTs and the DWARFs. There are dwarfs everywhere and in big numbers. It is not the case with giants. How do we recognize a dwarf from a giant? What sets them apart?

The following few lines attempt to answer these questions, maybe partially, but sufficiently to make the difference. For some people, this classification might seem simplistic or too contrasted, but when you realize that every one of us is a mixture of dwarfism and gigantism, with different doses of each, then this classification becomes very enlightening and helpful to allow you to understand who you are and by whom you are surrounded!

Dwarfs love little, love if, love not

Giants love, simply love, just love

Dwarfs grumble and moan

Giants listen and fulfill

Dwarfs covet and envy

Giants help and encourage

Dwarfs shout and insult in their weakness

Giants explain and clarify in their strength

Dwarfs ask and beg

Giants take and thank

Dwarfs want to be seen and they are invisible

Giants avoid the spotlight and fill the view

Dwarfs count glasses and bottles

Giants drink to get drunk

Dwarfs, resentful, seek revenge

Giants, understanding, provide forgiveness

Dwarfs bring sadness and anxiety

Giants offer joy and peace of mind

Dwarfs are hypocrisy and irony

Giants are clarity and tenderness

Dwarfs are inhibition and strictness

Giants are permission and sensitivity

Dwarfs are rigidity and stubbornness

Giants are tenacity and determination

Dwarfs are frigidity and loneliness

Giants are warmth and solitude

Dwarfs are gossip and incoherence

Giants are analysis and logic

Dwarfs are stinginess and egoism

Giants are generosity and altruism

Dwarfs are psychological problems

Giant are humanistic solutions

Dwarfs are narrowness and limitations

Giants are breadth and exaltation

Dwarfs are order and programs

Giants are discipline and freedom

Dwarfs are intellectual prostitution

Giants are spiritual dignity

Dwarfs always hang around dwarfs

Giants get along only with giants

Dwarfs envy and hate the giants

Giants pity and encourage the dwarfs

Dwarfs cannot become giants

Giants cannot become dwarfs

Dwarfs are happy in their dwarfism

Giants are proud of their gigantism

Dwarfs will never really suffer

Giants remember their sufferings forever

Dwarfs confuse their insignificant annoyances with immense sufferings and the real sufferings of others with little banalities

Giants hold back their own sufferings at the sight of other’s pain

Dwarfs shrink as they struggle with their small inconveniences

Giants grow as they strive and thrive through their life

The dwarfs betrayed, denied, tortured and crucified The Giant and The Giant forgave the dwarfs, died and resurrected for all the giants like Him.

We are all a mixture of “dwarfs” and “giants”. For some the dwarfism taste is more pronounced and for others the reverse is true. You, what is your taste? And what is the taste of people around you?

Are they “dwarfy”? Are they egoistic and stingy, coward and compromised, hypocrite and dishonest (intellectually and materially), mean and foolish, arrogant and weak, unworthy and disrespectful?

Are they “giantesque”? Do they try relentlessly to find the strength and resolve to uphold the values by which a giant lives: solidarity, respect, kindness, honesty, generosity, humility, caring, courage, dignity, perseverance, and wisdom?

Dwarfs swarm together as they fear the presence of giants who amplify their deficiencies and make them fully aware of their state of dwarfism. When they are forced to be in the presence of giants, they always try to shrink them in order to make them according to their own image. But when they fail, as they often do, they flee!

Moreover, most dwarfs have no idea of their “dwarfy” state. They are happy being dwarfs, they don't really know any other way, and they will never attempt to start becoming giants.

Growing up is not about getting older or taller. It is not about having more degrees or getting promoted at work. It is not about getting married or having children. It is not about getting richer or more powerful. Growing up is simply becoming, thinking, speaking and behaving like a Giant!