“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?” – Yoda

Star Wars has slowly and steadily crept into my hard drive and minimal wardrobe. It has taken decades to be where it is in my life, but I can safely say it is here to stay. 

And more than anything else, it is because of Yoda. 

Yoda is the grammar-agnostic voice of wisdom, one that makes both my heart and my vocabulary feel good about themselves. 

The Star Wars franchise is laden with Yoda’s wise words, and I love that his advice makes its way past time and space to us earthlings.

Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?

Yoda says this in a conversation with Luke, who expresses dismay at his inability to lift his ship out of the swamp. 

The ship’s too big. 

Soon, Yoda lifts Luke’s ship out of the swamp. Yoda says it’s no different lifting a ship than lifting a rock.

Fascinating stuff, really.

Star Wars aside, I have always found telekinesis incredibly enchanting. 

The first few scenes of the movie Birdman, when Riggan Thomson (played by Michael Keaton) was moving things around with his mind and levitating, got my heart racing, but not for long alas! 

Just a few seconds later, they indicate it was all in his imagination. 

Not that it’s a surprise; telekinesis, of course, is not real. Unless you are in the Marvel Universe or Harry Potter movies. 

But the idea of having the objects come to you than you moving around to fetch them tells you loud and clear, who the boss is, no?

Moving away from daydreaming for a minute, the idea of size not mattering is not new. History is replete with figures of authority that had short stature. 

I can recall my middle school history teacher regularly citing Napolean as an influential figure, despite his short stature (by the way, he wasn’t that short either). 

Maybe that was my teacher’s indirect way to… empower(?) the shorter kids in the class, who the taller, burly ones may frequently bully. Or it was simply him teaching us history. Whatever it was, it had a profound impact on me.

If you removed size from the equation, the playing field was leveled, wasn’t it? In this new imaginary world of mine, the bully’s size didn’t matter, the length of your essays didn’t matter, your height didn’t matter, and your ‘assets’ didn’t matter. What an egalitarian middle school society! 

I must have floated on that feeling for a solid five days until I witnessed a basketball match, by mistake, on my way to class. One of my friends, the shortest in the class, was playing basketball with some of my classmates. 

It was painful for my eyes and my heart, the twenty seconds of her struggling to get to the ball. It broke my heart just a little bit.

In what now seems like ages later, I chanced upon Yoda’s timeless wisdom, and that memory from childhood came rushing back. I was more mature now.

Yoda (800 years old): Size doesn’t matter.

Me: I know, this was life-transforming advice for me; big fan, big fan!

Yoda: Judge me by my size, do you?

Me: Of course not! Huge fan, now and always!

Also Me (secretly): How about your age?