Throughout most of history up until a few decades ago, left-handedness was looked down on, discouraged and quite literally demonized. However, that doesn’t stop many lefties today from taking pride in belonging to that persevering 10% of the population born forced to adapt to a right-handed world.
“We (lefties) are just a bit more creative,” said Randy Johnson, a lefty from Farmington. “From Day One you have to learn to adapt.”
International Left Handers Day, celebrated every Aug. 13, honors the uniqueness of lefties and recognizes the disadvantages and advantages that come with left-handedness.
“(It) gives them a taste of what we had to deal with growing up,” said Sean Wren, a Durango lefty.
On International Left Handers Day, right-handed people are encouraged to attempt everyday tasks with their left hand and to talk to their lefty friends and family about what it’s like to lead a left-handed life in a right-handed world, according to www.lefthandersday.com.
Don’t think talking about the “advantages of left-handedness” is just coping from the unlucky 10%, because as Johnson explained, sometimes southpaws do have the upper hand.
Johnson played baseball throughout most his childhood, and despite finding left-handed baseball gloves being a persistent problem, being a southpaw was otherwise an asset for the sport.
“Left-handed pitchers always face first base, so it’s harder (for the runner) to steal second,” he said.
He said he used to switch which hand he’d hit with, moving from one side of the plate to the other in the middle of being at bat.
“It mentally and visually psyches out the pitcher,” Johnson said.
Being able to bat left- and right-handed isn’t rare for lefties like Johnson, but another advantage of left-handedness is commonly being ambidextrous. While Johnson said he writes and throws like a lefty, he plays the drums, shoots firearms and swings a golf club right-handed.
Left-handed people have a higher likelihood of being more ambidextrous because they’re taught how to do things the right-handed way by parents, teachers and coaches from a young age. But Johnson said even when a lefty conforms and does something the right-handed way, they often bring their own special twist.
“Ringo Starr from the Beatles was left-handed but played the drums right-handed like I do,” he said. “Instead of his right hand coming down first, his left one did during fills, and that contributes to a little bit different pattern and sound moving across the toms.”
Yet, it wouldn’t be honest to say there are no downsides that come with being a lefty. Tools, scissors, instruments, kitchen appliances and countless other products designed to be held with the right hand require adaptation to be used by lefties.
Sean Wren, a 60-year-old Durango lefty, recalled the torment he suffered at the hands of priests and nuns as a young lefty attending Catholic school outside Detroit in the 1960s.
“They called me devil,” said Wren, who added that nuns and priests would tie his left hand to his desk to prevent him from writing with it, rap his knuckles with rulers and throw erasers at him all for being left-handed.
Despite the abuse, Wren said those nuns and priests are the reason his brother, another lefty, can today write cursive with both hands. While they never got Wren to write with his right hand, he attributes his later success in life, in part, to overcoming the challenges left-handedness presented him.
“I’m left-handed and I worked for Fortune 500 companies as an independent sales rep, so things turned out all right,” he said.
The reason humans have dominant hands in the first place isn’t exactly clear, said occupational therapist Ivy Lau, but scientists have their guesses.
Lau said children generally start to display a dominant hand around ages 2 to 4, and the leading theory is that hand dominance is related to which hemisphere of the brain is dominant, the right hemisphere for left-handed people and the left hemisphere for right-handed people.
Because the brain’s hemispheres are responsible for different functions, Lau said some scientists believe left-handed people are more artistically minded because the brain’s right hemisphere is largely responsible for creativity.
Lau herself subscribes to that belief, which is why she was excited when her now 8-year-old daughter began displaying left-hand dominance.
“I actually kind of love it,” said Lau about her daughter’s handedness. “All the left-handed people I’ve known have been more sensitive and emotionally available and creative, and I think that’s what we need in our society.”
nmetcalf@durangoherald.com
