The life of a left-handed person can be a hard one. We, lefties, are forced into a right-handed world; for example we are forced to use right-handed scissors in art class because the leftie-scissors are without a doubt missing or being used by some confused rightie. We become accustomed to playing gym sports with as a rightie because apparently no one thought that getting a few leftie baseball mitts was a good idea. Left-handed people make up only about ten percent of population which may explain the great right-handed scissor debacle. We also, of course, deal with sitting in rightie desks which is difficult but something we do all of the time, yet when a rightie has to sit in a leftie desk, all of the rooms furniture will be moved to rectify this "injustice". With all of these obstacles to overcome, you may ask yourself, why not become right-handed? As it turns out, lefties' brains and bodies actually work differently than righties so it's more complicated than you'd think.
Some scientists believe that handedness, though determined during fetal development, is only based on genetics twenty-five percent of the time and the main cause is unknown, but there are many theories. Several studies have also linked stress and depression during pregnancy with left-handedness and other studies show that twins are twice as likely to be left-handed. There was a theory that based on your handedness you used a different part of your brain, but this has proven to be mostly untrue. Only thirty percent of left-handed people and two percent of right-handed are right-brained or bilaterally-brained; the majority of people are left-brained. The side of the brain that lefties and righties use may be the same, yet lefties are more likely to develop schizophrenia, ADHD, dyslexia, and mood disorders.
At this point, if you are left-handed, you are probably thoroughly upset by this article, but there are perks to being a southpaw. We do get a leg up in some sports because of being left-handed. According to the author of The Puzzle of Left-Handedness, Rik Smits, when players are trained, they are more likely to be trained with right-handed people and when they go up against left-handed players, it is harder for right-handed players to adjust. Also a lot of important people are left-handed; four of the last six U.S. presidents have been left-handed!
I know that being a leftie can sometimes be more of a challenge than a privilege, but remember that you are one in ten which is basically as good as being one in a million, right?
