A Salute to Left-handers

Greetings to all left-handers out there!  It’s been stated that “left-handers are in their right mind,” but I guess it depends on who you ask.

When in a group setting, I like to poll.  Today I sat at a table with nine colleagues and observed that three of us were “lefties.”  That’s thirty percent!  Researchers tell us that approximately ten percent of the population is thought to be left-handed.  That means there could be upwards of 700 million lefties around the globe.  We are raising the bar at my workplace!

I’m the middle of seven kids and the only left-handed one in the bunch.  Statistically, that’s very low.

Some time back, I was sitting at a nurses’ station in an assisted living facility.  Six nurses sat around me and it suddenly dawned on me that all of us were south paws.  What were the odds?  We all high-fived one another and enjoyed a good laugh. 

History supports the fact that left-handers have “left” an indelible mark on our world.  Thank you, Napoleon Bonaparte, Prince William, Keanu Reeves, Bill Gates, Babe Ruth, Leonardo da Vinci, Barack Obama, Morgan Freeman, Mozart, Helen Keller, Neil Armstrong, Mother Teresa and many others for your contributions.  We salute and appreciate you, our poster children!

When I was in elementary school – in the early sixties – some teachers determined to disengage left-handers and force them to “write right!”  The reasons why were never discussed. 

At any rate, my first-grade teacher was determined to sway me toward the right.  One day her tri-pod ruler created a welt on my hand.  After school my mother noticed the raised, discolored place and upon learning how it got there, took me by the hand, and walked me back into my classroom to face my perpetrator. 

“Did you hit the back of Roger’s hand with your ruler?” she asked.  My teacher proudly said, “Yes, and I’ll do it again if he doesn’t quit writing with his left hand.” Wrong answer!  To say the least, mom was not happy!  An indignant Mrs. Loomis replied, “Let me put it this way:  If you do, I’ll come back up here and I’ll beat YOU with it.” 

Mom became my heroine and protector.  I successfully navigated my school years left-handedly.  I may hold my paper differently, I may wear ink stains on the side of my hand caused by rubbing my paper while writing, and I may slant my letters the wrong way, but all the left-handers in my first-grade class scored a victory that day in 1962. 

Do you wonder if there is a National “Left-handers Day?”  There is. It's August 13. THAT'S a day I'm going to celebrate!