Sinister Me

For those of you who don’t know (as opposed to those of you who don’t care, which list would include pretty much everybody), I’m left-handed. Being left-handed has its advantages, although I haven’t yet figured out what those are. I am glad, however, that I live in a time when we are not discriminated against and forced to write with the right hand, although the occasional anachronistic attitude still exists (LeeElle, I’m looking in your general direction). It would be funny if lefties sought for redress in the same manner as other groups of people whose ancestors were “repressed.” That would probably make an interesting movie, so long as it didn’t last more than 15 minutes.

My wife is also left-handed. We thought it would be fun if our children were left-handed too. Unfortunately, our first child is right-handed. Maybe we should force him to write with his left hand “to correct past injustices.”

When I was in Korea, I helped teach an English class to elderly people. One day I was writing something on the board, and someone asked me why I was writing with my left hand. They wanted to know if there was something wrong with my right hand. A couple of weeks later (these were older folks, remember) they asked me if I had broken my right hand. They just couldn’t fathom left-handedness. I only remember meeting one left-handed person the whole two years I was there.

According to the infallible Wikipedia, left-handed college graduates are 26% richer than their right-handed counterparts. There is apparently no explanation for this. Of course, I make less money than every other college graduate I know, so I guess I’m defective.

Does that make me “all left” or “all right”?