There’s a meme that asks, “Isn’t it weird that we have one hand that does everything and another hand that says, ‘I don’t know how to hold a pencil?’” If you think about it a minute, it is kind of weird. I mean, both of our ears, our eyes, our shoulders work fairly equally, but if you ask me to brush my teeth, sign my name, or even something not so fine motor involved, like washing a dish, I just cannot do it. At least not competently or without looking like a fool. I really have wondered what I would do if I ever hurt my right hand.
Statistically, that applies to about 90% of us, maybe even higher if we are talking only about women, because of the 10% of the world population that is left-handed, men are more likely to be left-handed than women. If you belong to a group that small, you are special, and that is why each August 13 is International Left-handers Day, a day to “celebrate the uniqueness and challenges of the left-handers community.”
Unless you are a part of this community, you most likely don’t give much thought to the challenges of being left-handed. I never did. I honestly don’t think I knew anyone who was left-handed for most of my life. But then I got some quick lessons when two of my sons turned out to be left-handers. I had never realized scissors were made for right-handers until my son was so frustrated because he was unable to cut anything, and then when school started, we found out together that spiral-bound notebooks just weren’t going to work.
Of course, these were not insurmountable obstacles. My sons are in their teens and twenties now and are doing just fine! And some notable lefties like Bill Gates, LeBron James, Keanu Reeves, Albert Einstein, Babe Ruth, Barack Obama, and Oprah Winfrey prove that being left-handed doesn’t need to be much of a hindrance at all. Most of those people would have grown up in a time when they probably had to just make do with what there was. Their moms weren’t ordering left-handed scissors or notebooks from Amazon for them to take to school.
But now we can. There are companies that make many kinds of products specifically for left-handers. If you’ve got one in your life – a friend, family member, or co-worker – take a minute to think about the specific challenges your left-hander might face. In the kitchen, a measuring cup they can read, a paring knife that cuts the right direction, or a can opener that isn’t trying to kill them. For the garage or workshop, there are measuring tapes, pruners, utility knives, and saws. And for the home or office, you can find left-handed keyboards and mice.
I bet you never really thought about such basic tools and utensils being “unhandy” for a left-hander, but if you know a lefty, let this year’s Left-handers Day remind you to be a little more understanding and maybe even find a way to help them out.
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