I don’t care much about American politics or plan to watch the debates going on these days between the presidential candidates of 2016. However, I was looking at the The Daily Mail news yesterday and they had 1 picture that had the candidates standing side by side next to each other.

Out of the dozen plus candidates, there was one candidate that really “stood out” from the crowd. He looked like he was 5-6 inches taller than Donald Trump. So I did what a normal, curious person did. I googled the heights of donald trump and this guy. Of course, first I had to figure out who this candidate was.

Me, being a person who doesn’t know anything about politics, I had to go down the list of short biographic info to figure out who this person is. Well, it is Jeb Bush.

So Wikipedia says Jeb Bush is 6′ 3”. and Wikipedia says that Donald Trump is either 6′ 2” or 6′ 3”. The Donald has claimed 6′ 3” a few times in the past.

Since Donald Trump is almost 70 years old, we can assume that he probably is not the 6′ 3” that he claims to be, although he might have been that tall at his maximum, at some point in his life. People often loss about 1 inch of height when they reach 50, compared to their maximum. When they are around 70, that height loss could be as dramatic as a full 3 inches of loss, on average.

I would make an educated guess and say that Trump is now 6′ 2”, which is still a very good height to be in. Remember seeing him on a book cover once with the Rich Dad, Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki who claims he is 6′ 2″ and Trump was noticeable taller. He will not be disqualified or thought badly by any voters for being shorter than his opponents.

As for Jeb, he just towered over Trump. At the time, last night, I was puzzled at how there could be that much of a discrepancy between them. I did not look at their shoes, or how they were standing.

Well, I wake up today and the DailyMail puts the news of the fact that Jeb Bush was standing on his toes at the top news of the day. The people at reddit/r/short picked it up too and are now talking about it. This type of news will most likely be talked about on all of the internet boards where people focus on height and being short.

The comments that are coming in are mostly average, where people are talking about Jeb’s insecurity and his desire to just look more dominant.

What most people will agree on is that this slight action taken by Jeb, which has now been noticed by millions of people who read Daily Mail and watched the debates, is that Jeb is not the most confident man in the world. He absolutely looks to be 6′ 3”, and clearly among the tallest of the candidates. He should not need to stand on his tiptoes to appear taller for the photos. This will be a gaff that the other candidates might take and use as a weapon against him later on if he stays in the running.

So what would make a guy who is already 6′ 3” want look even taller, maybe up to 6′ 6”- 6′ 7”? Some people have said that this idea is not his but credited to someone in his campaign party. They understand the importance of height and wanted to emphasize Jeb’s great height even further to make himself look stronger than the others in the group. Fair Enough.

If it is his idea, then it could be a character reveal. This guy is just not that confident in his own abilities to be a great potential president. Now that I am looking at the other candidate’s shoes, I am almost positive that there would also be 2-3 other candidates who are wearing extra-thick insoles or lifts, to give themselves a possible edge in the polls.

For Jeb, based on his intrinsic personality traits, being brash and quick in conversation might not be his strong-suit. You look at Trump and you can see that he is a good talker, smooth with words, and when people start throwing the hard questions as Trump, he knows how to deal with it. Trump has a rather large ego and is quite brash, but he projects such an assertive image and tone that most people would not question his willingness to be a leader who can take charge. Of course we all realize that there is a clear line of demarcation between a person being confident, and a person being arrogant.

Jeb should have sat down and learned in great depth all the topics that he is planning on talking about, if he is really thinking about becoming the future president of the US. I don’t have a strong opinion on him as a person, and living through his brother’s and fathers terms in office, I do become wary in his ability, if political intelligence can be passed down genetically.

When it comes to confidence, Jeb doesn’t have a lot. He is not charismatic, but he does have some things going for him. His 6′ 3” height would have helped him slightly in the polls, but now this fiasco might have nullified that advantage. His ability to speak Spanish fluently would help him slightly, but these days, almost everyone can speak Spanish now. I speak Spanish at a conversational level.

Personally I don’t think Jeb has any type of insecurity with his height (too old, too rich, and too tall), but there would be many guys who would do a similar action in that type of situation to overcompensate.

So is confidence really enough to stop the insecurity?

Based on my own life experiences, I would say that confidence is enough for maybe 75% of cases of men who complain about how short they are. Most of the individuals (specifically males) who have an issue with their height are often not that short to begin with. They often range from 5′ 7” – 5′ 10”. They just don’t reach that magical cutoff height of 6′ 0”. They probably compare themselves with their guy friends, who seem to be all much taller than them. These friends who are average with just average intelligence with large egos, uses what they do have to feel better about themselves, and probably like to tease and joke on the guy in their group is the smallest. It is a very college frat-type thinking.

This suggests that a short male’s insecurity is not something they developed themselves, but something that they acquired after years of interactions with their fellow male peers.

True confidence that is unshakable would be enough for guys in the 5′ 7”-5′ 10” group. They honestly have nothing to worry about. Spent $600 on a sharp suit, $300 on a pair of shoes, put on some diamond stud earrings, and a $1000 rolex and few people would ever think about talking bad about this person, especially after people reach a certain age. A well dressed and put together man who projects confidence and holds presence is a person most socially intelligent people would not be teasing on over appearance.

Even if you don’t feel truly confident, I suggest that one spends the money, put on this attire, and just try out the philosophy “Fake It Til You Make It”. Most guys would instantly notice that people’s perception of them and their level of respect increases dramatically. Women will be friendler to them and smile more, which may or may not be a sign that they are romantically interested in them.

However, we must also be realistic. The suit, shoes, and rolex will work, but up to a certain point. The cocky/confidence attitude works until it stops. Once a guy is below a certain height, even those external changes can’t stop the haters completely.

A guy who is 5′ 4” who is completely put together and immaculately dressed will on ocassion come across some 6 feet tall slob with little emotional or social intelligence who tries to heckle and belittle him on his physical short coming. It is in those types of social situations where one’s “Fake it Till You Make It” projected image will be tested. To have real confidence means that one can hold one’s frame without any of the loss of presence.

Ultimately, to have true, TRUE confidence means that that one is not swayed by the external elements, but has a diamond strong inner core of confidence. One is extremely comfortable in who they are, does not have any need to question or defend their identity. They know what they value and what they believe in and doesn’t feel the need to tell everyone about it.

When they are in a professional setting, they are respected and their coworkers, bosses, or employees listen to them because they are good at their job. They have a high level of cognitive, emotional, and social intelligence, aka maturity.

In a personal setting, on a date, they will not be so lucky or respected. The arena of love, dating, sex, and relationships is a true battlefield. We are just animals at the most basic level. A lot of our actions and decisions have already been programmed into our biology from billions of years of evolution. A certain percentage of the heterosexual female population will judge their potential male romantic partners based on physical stature. Being so below the average height will absoutely mean that some females will reject them. If one is even shorter, like 5′ 0” – 5′ 2” then it would be extremely hard.

Super-confidence will break down, since our biology/instinctual/evolutionary programing kicks in. Since we are physical beings, the physical needs will override all else, when we are placed in a state of great stress, pain, or loss. When a guy is 5′ 0”, confidence will still matter, but luck will become just as important. Some men who have become slightly more successful like to believe that the benefits and rewards they got in life from their effort is mostly based on their work. However, in a thought experiment, where we got a chance to live our lives a 2^nd time, but placed in a different birth situation, many of these successful people would not become the success that they were in the 1^st life, at least not at that level. Luck, that will be the most important aspect when all of the factors that one can control (fashion, dress, income, professional achievements) has been maximized, since luck is what we can’t control.

It may be true that luck is something that we can work to our favor, where opportunity meets preparation (Opportunity + Preparation = Luck). However, we must remember again that preparation is the part that we have control over, but opportunity is what we don’t have control over. We can work very hard and become prepared for a great opportunity. However, for some people, the element of “opportunity” never comes around. If it does appear in our life, we are not smart enough or experienced enough in our life to recognize that an opportunity has presented to ourselves. Based on bad timing, the opportunity is lost.

Since we are all born, we are almost all given a fair share of chances in pursuing what we want, some more than others, (as evidenced by Warren Buffett’s speech on his idea of being born in Bangladesh). However, there will be some people who will loss, based on things that they have no control over.