Marc2b
Posts: 6660
Joined: 8/7/2006
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WARNING: I AM IN RANT MODE.
As differences go, I’ve never thought of being left handed as a disability but it does present a challenge at times. The world is indeed designed by Righties for Righties. Whenever the topic of being a Lefty in a right handed world comes up (which is not very often, an indication of how often the don’t think of us) I’m always left with the sense that they not only don’t get it, but that they can’t get it. They just can’t comprehend living in the mirror world. They can’t understand that nearly everything is on the wrong side, turns the wrong way, etc.
I don’t gripe about it very often (but since you brought it up I’m going to go ahead and rant), but if someone does ask I tell them that eighty percent of it is annoyances so minor that they are easily adapted to and largely ignored (i.e. the handles on refrigerators being on the wrong side). I’d say about fifteen percent are slightly more annoying things like those chained pens not having long enough chains to be used by a Lefty. I’d only put five percent into the piss me off category. Things like those damn right handed desks in school. To use them you had to twist your back and hunch over and then the teacher thought you were trying to cheat off of the kid next to you. Sure, the school had some left handed desks. If you were lucky a classroom might have one... in the back corner... falling apart. I also, never once saw a left handed baseball glove while in school. Or scissors.
We also have an unfair rap for sloppy penmanship. There are two reasons for this: first, the writing system was created by Righties for Righties. Second, many right handed teachers don’t know how to teach left handed children. I remember being told by my third grade teacher, when we were learning cursive writing, "just form the letters as best you can."
Although it has declined in recent years, we have also had a bad rap for being clumsy. This was a result of society trying to force left handed children to be right handed. Left handed children would have their left arm tied behind their back or even be beaten for using their left hand.
Then there’s the language and other cultural symbols. In most languages the word for bad or evil is often the same word for left. "Sinister" comes from the Latin word for left. Gauche comes form the French word for left. Do you know the routine, in cartoons and movies, where a person is trying to make a moral decision and a little angel appears on one shoulder and a little devil on the other? Guess which side the devil is on? We can thank the writers of the Bible for this. When God separated the saints from the sinners, he sent the sinners off to the left. In the Middle Ages, left handers were often accused of being in league with the Devil or of belonging to secret, evil (naturaly) societies. All I can say is relax Righties, we have no plans to take over the world.
Thankfully, western civilization has abandoned it’s overt discrimination against Lefties but it is still a depressingly right handed world. I don’t get too worked up about it though... usually. Once, when my niece was about three, she picked up a crayon and began to draw on some paper – with her left hand. My sister (not my niece’s mother) took it out of her left hand and put it in her right hand while saying "no, no, no, honey, that’s the wrong hand, use this hand." I went off on her. Turned out to be a moot point because my niece turned out to be right handed anyway.
Despite the annoyances and the slights, I confess that being left handed makes me feel a little special and (I must also confess) a little superior. I am not one of the common herd. I am contrary. Being a Lefty has given me the ability to view things from the outsider’s perspective.
I have a question for my fellow Lefties. Whenever you see someone using a pen or pencil, do you, like me, check to see if they are one of us?
I’ll end with a plea. If any right handed parents are reading this, and you think your child is going to be left handed. Please do not discourage them. Their brain has been wired a little differently than yours and if you try to force them to be what they are not, you will screw up that wiring. Instead, be an advocate for your child, especially in their school years. If need be, get on the school’s case to make sure that left handed desks, sports equipment, etc. is available. And tell them that by available, you mean up to date. Don’t let them give your kid a left handed desk that dates from the 1950's which they found in a back corner of the boiler room.
There are books available for right handed parents of left handed children.
Well I’m gone for a few days. I’m going to Stratford, Ontario to take in some Shakespeare. I’ll be very interested in viewing this thread when I return.
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< Message edited by Marc2b -- 9/18/2006 9:48:48 PM >
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Do you know what the most awesome thing about being an Atheist is? You're not required to hate anybody!
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