The Right State

There is only one way in which I am on the left and that is in which hand is more dominant. Yep, I am left-handed. I like to recognize other left-handers when I am out and about at a restaurant or shopping. Like me, they like to be recognized as being left-handed. And just today, I found out that one of my favorite bloggers, Michelle Malkin, is also left-handed. She has a great tribute to left-handed people. She is a lefty which just adds to the many things I like about Michelle. She also includes these lefty comebacks:

“It’s the only thing left about me.”

“Only left-handed people are in their right minds.”

“Everyone is born right-handed. Only the greatest overcome it.”

There is one I have to add:

Before man sinned, everyone was left-handed. (think about it)

Like many others, I have had to deal with a right-handed world. My mother tried to make me use my right hand by taking toys from my left hand and placing them in my right until the doctor asked her, why? Lefties can remember that all the desks in school and college were for right-handers. Every day we had to use a number of other things like scissors and notebooks which were made for right-handed people. Most power tools are for right-handers. As a result, more than 1200 lefties a year die from misusing tools make for right-handed people. So its little wonder lefties tend to be a little smarter, quicker, and creative than right-handed people.

Left-handed people once suffered prejudice - the word “sinister” from the Latin for left came to mean “evil” or “unlucky”.

But a study has found that sinistrality - which affects up to 15 per cent of the population and is more common in men than women - is linked with quicker thinking when doing tasks such as playing computer games or sport.

Australian researchers have shown that connections in the left and right-hand side of the brains, or hemispheres, are faster in left-handed people.

The study published in the journal Neuropsychology says the faster transformation of information in the brain makes left-handers more efficient when dealing with multiple stimuli. (snip)

Left-handed people can feel they have been given a raw deal by society. The first reason for this is the nomenclature of handedness. In many European languages, “right” stands for authority and justice - German and Dutch recht and French droit. On the other hand, the English word “sinister” originally meant “left” but came to mean evil or unlucky. Secondly, left-handed people are placed at a constant disadvantage because nearly all tools and devices are designed to be used with the right hand - an example being scissors, which are arranged so the line being cut can be seen by a right-handed user but is invisible to a left-handed user.

Indeed such was the stigmatisation of left-handers that until the latter part of last century, some Catholic primary schools in the United States punished children writing with their left hand. Baseball players and left handers Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth wrote with their right after enduring such suppression as children.

It has also been claimed left-handers are more intelligent and creative than right-handers. In his book, Right-Hand, Left-Hand, Chris McManus, of University College London, says the proportion of left-handers is rising and they are higher achievers.

Left-handers make up 15% of the population. A great many famous people are left-handed like all three main contenders for the 1992 Presidential election: H. Ross Perot, Bill Clinton, and George H.W. Bush.

Left-handers have had to endure a lot in the past and they have to tolerate a world run by right-handed people. But God in his infinite wisdom made up for all that lefties have had to endure by making them a little brighter, quicker and creative than their right-handed brethren. In the end, the lefties get the last laugh.

Hat tip: Michelle Malkin

Tags: Culture, Politics //