In my mom’s days, children weren’t allowed be left-handed. If a child showed a preference for using their left hand to write, a teacher was advised to tie the child’s left hand behind their back to force him or her to use the other hand. (Sounds like child abuse to me.) Luckily when I was born a lefty this practice was out of style or had been discontinued. So, I grew up eating and writing with my left hand, but it wasn’t easy growing up in a right-handed world. To adapt, I learned to iron, knit, and bat balls with my right hand since others teaching me only knew how to teach those skills that way. Just try writing with your non-dominant hand to see how challenging it is to learn to do things in a different way.
Ever notice that many left-handed people write their letters with a backward slant or write with their wrist bent at an awkward angle as they struggle to write letters from the top rather than the bottom of the line? That developed because all students were required to have their notepaper at the same angle on their school desk. (Talk about a lack of diversity in those days.) I re-taught myself to write left-handed from under the line by changing the slant of my writing paper to the opposite angle from the dominant right-handers. Imagine that? Nowadays there are left armed desks in schools available for southpaws.
Scissors, steak knives, water fountains, wrist watches and numerous other items are all designed with the right-handed person in mind. Even in our enlightened day and age, think about where your computer mouse in located? It’s on the right side although you can change it over to the left side. It’s been easier for me to teach myself to use it in its normal position. Maybe you could say lefties are not only challenged but more adaptable or creative?
How does one know whether they are right or left-handed? It’s not determined by genetics, as both my parents were right handed. When I married a lefty, our son turned out to be right handed. It has to do with brain dominance. About 10% of our population is left-handed. Many famous people are southpaws including: Albert Einstein, George HW Bush, Bill Clinton, Barrack Obama, Leonardo de Vinci, Marilyn Monroe, and Babe Ruth to name just a few.