Written by Sara R.
My youngest son Christopher, who is 14, is the only member of our immediate family that is left-handed.
I started reading a few articles on left handed people and found some very interesting facts. Here are just a few (there are some negative facts out there but I prefer to focus on the positive):
- Only 10-15% of the population in the world is left handed
- Four out of the last seven U.S. Presidents are left handed
- Left-handed people are more likely to pursue creative careers
- Left-handed college grads go on to become 26% richer than right handed grads
- August 13th is known as Left Handed Day
- There are grants and scholarships for left-handed people
Christopher’s personality fits that of a left-handed person. He’s creative, artistic, independent and a quick thinker. Some famous people who are left-handed include Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi (one of Christopher’s favorite people), Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Mozart, Beethoven, Paul McCartney, Prince Charles & Prince William and Bill Gates, just to name a few.
I never gave it a second thought about how different it must be for him and how it can be quite frustrating at times. I do, however, set his place at the table with the napkin, fork and glass on the left side.
Last year for his Christmas gift we purchased a left-handed bow because he loves archery. We had a hard time finding one.
Lefties are usually better with hand-eye coordination. That explains the reason he won the archery championship in summer camp this year! ?
When I sat down to interview Christopher on what he felt was an annoyance, if any, being left-handed, I wasn’t prepared to hear what he had to say. He started off with “Well, my first grade teacher tried to get me to write with my right hand. She would make me stay in for recess, put a pencil in my right hand and have me write the alphabet. Once I was finished, I could go out for recess”.
Wait! What?! Are you kidding me? She really made you do this?? UNBELIEVABLE! “Why didn’t you ever tell me this?” I asked. He replied, “I didn’t think it was a big deal because she only had me write the alphabet once and then I was allowed go out for recess.” It seems this happened every day for half the school year! He quickly commented that when she compared his writing from the first time he did this exercise to the last that there was no improvement in his right-handed writing.
He also went on to tell me when he was in 7th grade one of his teachers would criticize him for leaving two inches to the left of his paper. Christopher did this because he said it was more comfortable to leave some space for his hand when he had to write from a spiral notebook. Writing is a bit of a challenge for Christopher because he tends to drag his writing hand across the paper which in turn smudges his letters.
He might be left handed but he is all right with me. I read somewhere left-handed people are “a special expression of God’s creativity.” I totally agree!
