Evidently, there was no left-handedness remaining
when I became the youngest member of the Loxley family. Both of my sisters are
left-handed. The closest I could come to it was to write back-handed with my
right hand. I asked June why my siblings were left-handed while neither parent
had the trait. She informed me that there was a time when you were not
permitted to be left-handed.In fact, according to her and my research material,
the left hand would be tied behind the back requiring a child to learn to be
right-handed. It evidently wasn't permitted until my sister Peggy was in
school. I decided to check into this history of the left hand.
There was a time when left-handers were thought to
be sinister or wicked. There were times when I was growing up that I was sure
this was true; however, research has discounted all of that falderol. Only one
in ten people are born left-handed. There are more men than women who are of
the same sort. Research points to some complex collaboration between
environment and genes that causes this southpaw event. Evidently, lefties have
more left-handed family members. This lead me to ask the question of my sister
why neither of our parents were left-handed. This brought up the fact that
during their time, it was not allowed. My mother had beautiful writing. My
dad's writing was atrocious. It weaved across the page and was so small that
you had to get closer to the page to read it. Yep, Dad was probably
left-handed.
My sisters reside in the ranks of many famous
people: many US presidents, Helen Keller, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Alexander the
Great, Jim Henson, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Fred Astaire, Mark Twain, HG
Wells, Lewis Carroll, Prince William and his dad, Neil Armstrong, Leonardo Da
Vinci, Michelangelo, Picasso, Mozart, Beethoven, Winston Churchill, Queen
Victoria, Joan of Arc, Marie Curie and many, many more. Thank goodness, no one
decided to tie back their left hands. I found an interesting note that Einstein
learned to speak late, had problems in almost every subject in school and was frequently
labeled as being backwards.
Many different cultures viewed left-handers in a
good way. Incas thought left-handers were capable of healing and possessed
magical abilities. Zuni's believed left-handedness signified good luck. Having
left-handed sisters has definitely been good luck for me….and, no, June, you do
not have magical abilities.
June told me that when she took a calligraphy
class, she had to turn the paper upside down in order to keep the ink off of
her hand. It is impossible to write from left to right without dragging a hand
across the paper of already written words. I know because in writing
back-handed as a right-handed girl, I often had pencil rubbings across the side
of my right hand as I dragged it across my paper turned sideways. Always wiped
out the paragraph above the line of print.
We all seem to have our own map when we are born.
We cannot alter the makeup of the human body. We are different. There is no
pattern that stamps us all out the same. And, we are all sent to this earth
with love from He who created us. We are born with our own recipe made up for
us in the womb. If we alter that recipe, perhaps alter the not only the future
of a child but perhaps even the future of mankind. Perhaps one day this judging
of what is viewed wicked, the prejudice that once followed left-handers, will
fall away as we accept one another just as we are when we enter this
earth.
Words from a back-handed, right hander.
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