According to Everyday Health, ten percent of the US population is left-handed. I am in that ten percent and I have had my share of troubles because of it. It started with my parents trying to get me to hold my fork in my right hand. Later trying to learn how to play sports was confusing because I had no idea what hand to use.
We lefties do have our trials. There are never enough left-handed desks, so our elbows dangle off the sides. How about more left-handed desks? If right-handed students can be comfortable, we should be as well.
Another annoyance is can-openers. I don’t even know where to put my hands because they are made for right-handed people. There are other problems in the kitchen. When I’m trying to measure something and I want to hold the measuring cup with my left hand, all I see is the unhelpful metric numbers. No thanks!
Have you ever noticed when signing your name at a store, the cord is on the right side, so you have to pull it all the way over? Why can’t it be in the middle? There’s not enough hand equality! Then there’s the worst of all with getting the lovely pencil smudges while you can’t see what you’re writing. It’s already hard enough having to write from left to right, but you would think by now they would make pencils and pens that don’t smudge, so at least one problem would be fixed.
One of my least favorite things has to be using scissors. Getting blisters after cutting out a few measly pieces of paper is awful. Why can’t scissors just be neutral so both hands can use them? The scissors could at least have a label on them, so we know what we are getting ourselves into.
There are the dreaded notebooks and three-ring binders that have spirals on the left side, but we’re still expected to use them.
We always have to be cautious of where we sit at the dinner table, so we don’t hit elbows with our neighbors and annoy them, even though we’re annoyed all the time.
You would think by now that technology would have offered some inventions and solutions, but even with today’s gadgets lefties are still suffering. You have to use a computer mouse with your right hand, iPhones have the lock button on the right side, and you have to swipe to unlock your phone by moving it to the right. There should be settings so we can decide which way we want to swipe the unlock button. While they’re at it a left-handed iPhone should also be invented.
Although being left-handed is a pain every now and then, there are some interesting left-handed facts, and so many of them are true for me! On LeftyFretz, a few include left-handers are more likely to have allergies, we are better at multi-tasking, and we are twice as likely to be a man. Okay, I guess I don’t fit into that one.
At least I know I’m not alone in the world. Famous Left-Handers says there is a large amount of famous people who are left-handed. A few include: Tim Allen, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, Dick Van Dyke and Larry Bird.
Even though life can be rough sometimes, I am proud to say I am left-handed, and I wouldn’t change being that unique ten percent in the world.
