Totally snatched from my friend's blog ... I think it's brilliant!!! (and yes he wrote it)
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So guess what!! Today is International Left Handers Day!! It's a very special day for me being left-handed and all. But even more important than that, I was researching left-handedness. It turns out only 13% on the world population is left-handed! That puts me in a very special category. I feel so honored.
But, as many of you may know or may not know, we left-handers have been silently perscuted for hundreds if not thousands of years. Though, it may not be as evident today, just 100 years ago, teachers would force left-handed children to write with their right hand by slapping them with a ruler. Today, though, we still must endour living in a backwards world: keyboards with the numeric pad on the right side, watches with the winder on the right side, right-handed scissors. Oh yes, we've adapted. Most of us can 10-key with both hands. We've learned to use right-handed scissors. (Did you even know that "ordinary" scissors are mad for right-handed people?) We've learned to constantly switch your drinks from our right hand to our left to shake hands when meeting someone.
Any right handed people out there every really thought about it? We have. It's always in our conscious mind. Why? Because we constantly have to adjust that which is natural to confirm to unnatural environment. The next time your in a bar or a social gathering, take a mental note of which hand you predominantly hold your drink. I would say that for the right handers, most of the evening will be in your left hand. And if for the right handers, most of the evening will be in your right hand. You maybe asking, "why is the drink in the opposite hand?" Quite simple. We want to keep free the dominant hand to preform tasks such as writing, talking, scratching, protecting, etc. The non-dominant hand is quite capable of merely holding something.
Now don't get me wrong. I fully understand that we left handers have it easier today then in yesteryears. Left handers were seen as possessed or devil worshippers and were burned at the stake! However, it does go much deeper that this blatent persecuation. It has even crept into our languages. The English word "sinister" comes from the Latin word sinister. The Latin word sinister means left. On the flip side, the English word "dexterity" comes from the Latin word dexter. Can you guess what dexter means? You got it. RIGHT. The word ambidexterity (ambidextrious) in English conveys the ability to use both hands equally. However, the true meaning of the word is "right-handed both hands." And it's not just English, other languages too have words indicating that left is bad and right is good.
So, today is our day! May all the left handers rejoice in our special abilities for as our motto says, "As the right hemisphere of the brain controls the left side of the body then only left-handers are in their right minds"
