Girl Clown Dancing
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Lefty

9/4/2017

22 Comments

 
Picture
(Note:  Given that millions of kids are starting school this month, I thought this would be a timely topic for my first September post.)
  
Once upon a time, we were feared and reviled.
 
Yet out of the entire population of the world—7.5 billion and counting—there are still 900 million of us out here. 
And while it seems that the latter number is a pretty hefty one, it’s really just 12 percent of the populace. 
 
However, we also aren’t going away anytime soon.  In fact, our numbers are growing.
 
Yup, I’m left-handed.
 
In other words, I’m also known as a southpaw and lefty; other names we’ve been called are clumsy, awkward and even perverse. And let’s not forget the festive phrase “left-handed compliment,” which means taking pleasure in what otherwise is a mistake. 
 
Luckily, I was well into adulthood when I discovered that not so long ago—and still around in some places today—being left-handed was thought to be an affliction.
 
My own, positive memory is crystal clear. 
 
I am almost five years old, and rays of sunlight are pouring into our first grade classroom from the solid wall of windows, yes, to my left.  Miss Kelly has handed out those chunky yellow pencils, perfect for tiny hands and fingers.  We also have one sheet of butcher-thin paper on our desks, the kind with broken blue lines to indicate where to draw
the alphabet.
 
“Pick up your pencil in the hand that feels most comfortable to you,” says Miss Kelly. 
 
I’m in the back and don’t think twice; it just feels easy and good to use my left hand. When I look up a few minutes later, I’m surprised that everyone around me is writing with their right hand.  Silently, I think, “Oh, that’s interesting,” but that’s about all.  (Still, in our very right-hand world, I long ago learned to use this “other” hand for many tasks, including ironing clothes, using a computer mouse and scrubbing floors.)   
 
But others, including my father and The Hubster, had very different experiences. 
 
My right-handed dad—born in 1919—curled his hand into a painful looking, claw-like “C” shape whenever he had to write anything down.  When I asked my mother why he held his hand the way he did, she said that he had been forced as a child to do so.  There were no other details. 
 
As for my music educator husband, his mother and her four sisters were all left-handed and he was, too.  But at the Catholic elementary school he attended in the 1950s, writing this way was considered—and he was told this, flat out—evil.  That said, he says that not only has he learned to live with the adjustment forced on him, he has benefitted from
it.  “I found it quite easy,” he says, “to learn to play many musical instruments that require small motor skills from
both hands.”  
 
But the blame shouldn’t fall completely on those long-ago teachers and nuns. 
 
After all, they were only ascribing to all of the folklore and superstitions about the awfulness of being left-handed—tales, it turns out, that have been around for thousands of years. 
 
For instance, the forever landlord of Hell—the Devil—has long been portrayed, both in stories and pictures, as being left-handed.  As a matter of fact, it was said that he baptized followers with his left hand.  Indeed, in France, witches there greeted the Prince of Darkness with their left hand. 
 
Superstitions include the belief that if your right palm itches, you’ll receive money.  But beware if your left palm needs to be scratched, because then you’ll be giving money away.  Some also believe that it’s bad luck to pass a drink to another person with your left hand. 
 
And when it comes to the tradition of wearing one’s wedding ring on our left ring finger, there’s a reason for that, too.  It seems that the ancient Greeks and Romans believed that wearing the marital band in this spot fended off the evils associated with the left hand.           
 
I sort of see where these beliefs may have started.
 
Because, what do you know, there are several studies that show that we lefties are prone to learning disabilities that the rest of the population doesn’t share.
 
One, conducted in Australia in 2009, concluded that left-handed children performed worse than right-handers when it came to vocabulary, reading, writing, social development, and gross and fine motor skills.  More recently, in 2013, a Yale investigation boasted scarier statistics: its research claimed that we are at a much greater risk for ADHD, mood disorders and dyslexia.  Here, scientists also found that a full 40 percent of patients with schizophrenia, or similar brain disorders, wrote with their left hands.  Others swear that those with autism tend to favor their left.     
 
On the other hand (pun intended), a whole lot of Very Cool People are left-handed.
 
There’s Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as Oprah Winfrey, Seth Rogan and Jon Stewart.   Surprising to me, a disproportionate number of our Presidents have also been left handed; we’ve had eight in the White House, including George H. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama (for the record, Donald Trump is not).  And, I also think our numbers are increasing—from four percent in 1920 to 12 percent today—not because there are really more of us.  Rather, my theory is that it has more to do with the fact that those born writing with this hand are pretty much no longer being forced to make a change.  
 
One more thing.
 
I’m honored to be on this list.   Heck, I’ve always been a little quirky (although I would hope, especially for friends
and family, that it’s in the best sort of way), and being a southpaw—excuse another pun here—fits right into my
Girl Clown narrative. 
 
Just as snugly as a left-handed baseball mitt.   
 
What are your thoughts about left handedness and left-handed people?  I look forward to your stories and comments!
 
P.S.  Yes, it’s true: we lefties even have our very own yearly holiday.  Find out more, at
http://www.lefthandersday.com/. 
22 Comments
Larry Grant
9/4/2017 02:05:12 pm

I wonder if my primary school teachers ever became more comfortable with allowing left-handedness in their classrooms. They were all (1st, 2nd and 3rd grade) quite young when I had them in the 1950s. Being ambidextrous has benefitted me greatly all my life.

Reply
Hilary Grant
9/4/2017 02:08:37 pm

Because they were young, I would like to think so. I guess it depends how much wiggle room they were willing to give church teachings as they got older, and hopefully, wiser... xo

Reply
Pam Thomas
9/4/2017 02:46:53 pm

I am left handed. The nuns in school tried to force me too change, to no avail. Sign of the devil, they said. YEAH!!!!!!

Reply
Hilary Grant
9/4/2017 05:15:07 pm

I can't believe you made it out of Catholic school still using your left hand to write with. Obviously, you were a rebel and a fighter--in the best sense of those words! :)

Reply
kristin
9/4/2017 05:34:10 pm

I'm not left handed but my husband is and he is statement to this article is left-handed people do it right

Reply
Hilary
9/4/2017 07:14:43 pm

I concur!

Reply
Susan Jordan
9/4/2017 05:51:23 pm

When I was about 7, I was watching one of those Movies of The Week on tv one night, where this man in an office was trying to keep a co-worker from opening a package. He reached his right arm out to stop things, and sure enough, there was a bomb in the package. The co-worker was killed, and the man lost his right arm from the elbow down, and had to use a prosthetic. At first, it was one with a somewhat realistic-looking hand, but it was pretty useless, so he switched to a hook. It was slightly better for everyday uses, but one day, he went into the bank for something, and had to sign his name with his left hand. It was so scraggly that it alerted the teller, who brought out the manager to ask why the signature didn't match his old one. The man embarrassedly held up his right arm (hook), and there was an instant, awkward understanding. I remember feeling embarrassed FOR the man, and thinking how much easier it would've been if he could also write with his left hand. I wondered what I would do if I lost my right arm and couldn't write with it anymore. I decided at that moment that, just in case I got my right arm blown off by a bomb someday, I would start learning now how to write with my left, so that, by the time I was a grownup, I'd be really good at it. So that's what I did - I started practicing handwriting with my left. I even wrote two versions of the same short letter to my grandma, explaining that one was with my left. I haven't kept the practice up as much as I should have, but I'm still not too bad at it. Maybe with more practice again, I can improve. I've always thought lefthandedness was kind of different and cool (even with all the trouble lefties have to go through). There's something special about it to me. Those old superstitions are weird and unfair. Shame on anyone who goes along with it.

P.S. My brother Jeff, my sister-law-Grace, and my nephew Stephen are all lefties. I'm just a wannabe lefty. :)

Reply
Hilary
9/4/2017 07:19:13 pm

Great story! And I have no doubt that if you started practicing again, you'd do well with a pen or pencil in your left hand. Believe it or not, there are still places in the United States that go along with this hooey. One place: Waldorf schools! Those schools--which are considered super progressive--that are seriously Waldorf all the way believe that the only option for writing is with one's right hand. I think some of the schools are letting that go, but not all. And, just two years ago, a kindergarten teacher in Oklahoma was made to resign after it turned out that she was punishing children who were left handed, telling them it was evil and from the devil. Small town, probably the Bible Belt, but... still.

Reply
Susan Jordan
9/4/2017 07:28:13 pm

A friend of mine got to go to Alabama on a Habitat for Humanity project around 1986 or 1987 (I couldn't make it), and he told me when he got back that the small-town locals there still looked at left-handedness that way. He mentioned a little boy whose family had been forcing him to use his right hand, and it had "slowed him down". That belief and its implementation are shameful and backward.

Hilary Grant
9/4/2017 08:03:43 pm

Also, in the powerful courtroom scene in To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch asks Mayellen's father to write his name on a piece of paper. The court watches, and Atticus says, "You're left-handed?" The man gets mad and says, "I'm a God fearing man!"

Larry Grant
9/4/2017 08:24:54 pm

This brought back a 5th grade memory. It was recess. A few of us boys were on the monkey bars seeing who could get to the top first. I was above a kid who proceeded to bite my right calf. I supported myself with my left hand and arm then punched him really hard with my right fist. He hit the ground. I made it to the top with a sore right hand. (Actually a broken finger and knuckle) I probably got paddled for punching the kid but that's another story.
My right hand and arm ended up in a cast making it impossible for me to do hand written school work. Not!
After about a week Sr. Patrick Marie questioned me about who was doing my work for me. She complimented their penmanship. I confessed to her that I'd been doing it left handed. I don't remember her reaction so I must not have been punished for completing my work with the "wrong" hand.

Hilary
9/5/2017 07:51:26 am

So, when put in the position of getting schoolwork done, I'm glad the nuns gave you a "pass" -- :) One would think that looking at your better left-hand penmanship, they would have let you remain a lefty, but it was not to be. xo

Laura Patterson
9/4/2017 08:19:57 pm

Always a pleasure to read your blog posts Hilary!

Reply
Hilary Grant
9/5/2017 07:53:11 am

Thank you, Laura! If any of my blogs ever really speak to you, please feel free to SHARE on FB! :) And I like doing them for more than a few reasons: one is that it keeps my writing polished. :)

Reply
kerri
9/4/2017 09:13:09 pm

My dad was a lefty until he burned his arm and was forced to become right handed. When I was a child they tried to make me a righty but I persisted and have always been left handed. It has served me well, especially on the tennis court. I write kinda weird (different from other lefties, I think), and have a callus to prove it. Interesting topic- I'm so proud to know I am in the same category as Obama!

Reply
Hilary
9/5/2017 07:57:36 am

I love being on the Lefty List as well. As I wrote, my dad was really a lefty, and looking back, I'm pretty sure he was on the fringe of the autism spectrum. Me... I don't know that I have any processing issues, but I am DEFINITELY way more visual. I find it easier to follow a recipe if it is printed out (not a picture from my phone), and when it comes to directions, I often have to write them out so that they "stick" in my brain. Just verbally telling me something and that's it, is tough for me to retain. I'm also a bit attention deficit--I tend to do five things at once (which served me well working in TV). They all get done, but never in logical order.

Reply
leslie spoon
9/5/2017 08:28:53 am

Thank god times have changed! I always wondered why the wedding ring was worn on the left hand. I can see how that helps Larry play musical instruments too.

Reply
Hilary
9/5/2017 03:10:11 pm

Yes, that benefit that Larry got from the nuns was not one that they thought of!

Reply
Andrea
9/15/2017 03:45:11 pm

Great post! I am a lefty and so is my husband. Oddly, I do everything else right-handed. My husband is an extreme lefty, however, and it's interesting how he has had to adjust to using tools!

Reply
Hilary
9/16/2017 09:24:27 pm

I happen to think lefties are the best! And, hm, I bet your husband could find any tool he wanted, modified for left hand use. It's a big market out there; still, I was surprised to find out how much of a minority we still are.

Reply
Kari
9/24/2017 02:47:41 pm

My son is a leftie and would make a great writer although he says he will never write but is considering being a librarian. What is quite interesting is that at the age of one we had him eat scrambled eggs for example, we would put the fork in his right hand and he would swap his fork to his left hand. This happened a few times but then we just let it go. We were told that a person cannot determine their left or right hand until they were much older. So not true in my son’s case. I could not be prouder. It will be exciting to see what he does with his life!

Reply
Hilary
9/24/2017 02:54:34 pm

I predict that if he becomes a librarian, and starts reading all of the incredible wonderful books that will be right in front of him, he will WANT to write! One of the many reasons I have this blog is that I have no other choice. :)

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Hilary Roberts Grant

    Journalist, editor, filmmaker, foodie--and a clown! 
    ​

    Categories

    All
    Activism
    Blogaversaries
    Doing It Right
    Food
    Holidays
    Living Life
    Miscellany
    My Girl
    People
    Reading
    Remembering
    Taking Care
    Traveling

    Archives

    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.