Robin Writes: August 13th: International Lefthanders Day
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By Robin Garrison Leach
I am a member of an exclusive group of humans. Though small in number—only 15% of the world’s population are members—we have infiltrated every arena of life and learned to adapt to the majority’s lifestyle with unflagging, albeit graceless, determination.
We eat on the outer edges of dinner tables. We have to reach across our bodies to turn doorknobs. And our handshake is executed with a different one than we use to wave goodbye.
Confused? I’ll bet you are…if you’re right-handed.
August 13th marks the 48th annual ‘International Lefthanders Day’. This date is set aside each year to pay tribute to those of us (thirty million in the U.S. and hundreds of millions worldwide) who write with ‘the wrong hand’.
There are no greeting cards; if there were, you can be sure they’d open from left to right. And nobody gets the day off work. But it’s exciting to think that maybe this year’s celebration could gain the recognition that will afford all left-handers the ‘right’ to be proud of their remarkable abilities to live in a world that does most everything backwards where we’re concerned.
For most ‘southpaws’, being left-handed is a minor inconvenience. We’ve spent our lifetimes learning to deal with our surroundings: slanting our writing paper at odd angles, bending our hands this way and that to use kitchen utensils and office equipment made for ‘righties’.
There are advantages, too. My mother told me that left-handed people are potential geniuses. I like to think she was right. More scientific and less biased studies show that many of us develop a good sense of distance and proportion because of the receptors we’ve developed on both sides of our brain.
We can be more emotionally independent and determined than our right-handed friends, and we tend to be high-achievers.
Like the rest of the population, we are a capable, varied mix of human traits…with an especially keen ability to maneuver through fast food drive-thru’s and drive-up ATM’s.
‘International Lefthanders Day’ gives us a chance to notice and help dispel the many negative connotations associated with the sinister, (on the left) side of life. The English word ‘left’ comes from the Anglo-Saxon ‘lyft’, meaning weak or broken.
In French, the word is ‘gauche’, which we interpret as ‘uncouth, clumsy’. The German word for left-handed is ‘linkish’, a synonym for awkward.
For a time, being left-handed was grounds for divorce in Japan.
There are numerous negative references to the left in the Bible, and even Buddha steers his followers toward the ‘right-hand’ path.
Our American vernacular is subtly brutal to lefties. You never want to be ‘out in left field’. It’s not flattering to receive a ‘left-handed complement’. And you can only swear to the truth-or pledge your allegiance-with the right hand.
It is not graceful to have ‘two left feet’. The foil-covered food growing mold in your frig is called ‘leftovers’. And, sadly, nobody is waiting for ‘Mr. Left’ to come along.
Despite the aspersions and inconveniences, we lefties share a certain pride in our handedness. Our silverware must be moved to the other side of our plates and our writing styles may bring a chuckle, but we enjoy our unique slant on life. It makes us special.
So. Look around on August 13th. Find that person whose arm is dragging through ink he just penned on his report. Notice the clever design of your left-handed friend’s coffee mug…it is not hers to enjoy; it faces outward when she drinks.
Take a minute or two to try using a manual can opener or a pair of scissors with your non-dominant, left hand.
Join hands, (left to right, please) and celebrate with us on ‘International Lefthanders Day’. I wouldn’t want you to feel left out.
• Robin is a freelance columnist who lives and writes in Quincy, Illinois. Contact her at [email protected].
