The 13th of this month (August) is International Left-Handers Day, which was first observed in 1976 as a way to celebrate all of us southpaws who live in a right-hand-dominated world. The day is also used as a vehicle to make people aware of some of the issues faced by the left-handed, such as the higher likelihood to develop schizophrenia.1
Left-handed people comprise about 12% of the population and were once thought of as being in league with Lucifer.2 In fact, the word “sinister” is Latin for “sinestra” or “left hand”.
Some famous left-handers are Presidents Truman, Ford, Reagan, and Obama. Rockers Jimi Hendrix, Phil Collins, and Sir Paul McCartney as well as baseball greats Babe Ruth, Joe Nuxhall, and Sandy Koufax (who lives right here in Vero Beach). Left-handed movie stars include Judy Garland, Charlie Chaplin, and Harpo Marx. Mother Theresa was also left-handed, which means I’m in pretty good company.
As the family legend goes, there are only two people in both my mom (who has only one brother) and dad’s (who has two brothers and three sisters) families that were left-handed. Aunt Sandy and me. Sadly, Sandy isn’t with us anymore, so I guess now that leaves me as the family lefty.
It wasn’t supposed to be that way, you know. My mom always tells me of how when I was a baby and would pick something up with my left hand, my dad would take it from my left and put it into my right. He would always say that being left-handed in a right-handed world would be a challenge.
And he was right (or should I say ‘correct’?).
Despite all his efforts, I still turned out to be left-handed for the most part. I say “for the most part” because I still do some things right-handed such as swing a bat, throw a ball, shoot a basketball, and swing a golf club. When it comes to kicking, such as in kickball, my right foot takes the lead. I write, play guitar, bowl, throw darts, and play tennis with my left hand. For whatever reason, when computers came out, I took to using the mouse with my right hand. I guess because my first time using one was in a college journalism course and that’s the side the mouse was always on. I just adapted out of necessity.
Adaptation is one of the key things a left-handed person learns early in life, whether we want to or not. Back in school, if I walked into a classroom and got a left-handed desk, I thought I struck gold. I was usually stuck at a right-handed desk and had to contort my body around to get most of my arm on the writing surface, which is something I still, subconsciously, do to this day when I’m writing anything by hand.
Forget trying to write in a metal spiral notebook. If I don’t want dents in my hand, I have to flip it around, so the spiral is on the right side.
Using a pencil was pretty much a mess, as well. My hand would drag across what was already written, leaving a graphite streak and smudged words on the paper. If you’re using a pencil and are left-handed, you can forget wearing a white shirt with long sleeves.
My wife loves buying me left-handed items which I rarely use. The pen above, I tried to use but it just felt weird. I also tried using the toothbrush, but the head is just too big and it’s awkward to hold, so I quietly just went back to my old toothbrush. I found I could use some scissors if I turned them upside down, but that was tough on the thumb and made me glad I don’t have much need in life to use scissors these days.
On a brighter note, it’s said that left-handed people are more creative and hear music better than our right-handed brethren. I’m not sure if that’s entirely true, or not, but who am I to argue with science? I consider myself creative and am terrible at math, so who knows?
Are you left-handed? Do you know any left-handers? If so, give them a hug this August 13th…they have a (sort of) rough life.
Until next time—
International Lefthanders Day - Wikipedia
To be fair, some of us probably are.
Love this - and you hit upon the spiral notebook dilemma which I've been asking people about. I thought lefties loved spirals but it sure seems like that's not the case!
Greetings fellow left hander