Did you know that only 15% of the world's population is left-handed? Scientists believe that people are born left landed and then switch to their right hand later on which leads to such a low number of southpaws. I myself am one of the minority. Because there are not many of us, everything is catered to right-handers leaving us to struggle and adapt to a right-handed world. Here is a list of things that land handed people to struggle with.
1. Pencils/Pens
Every left-handed person has turned over their hand after writing with a pencil and their skin was a silver gray. The graphite smears all over your hand and can also smear a little on the page, making the words hard to read. It's even worse if the ink in a pen is really runny and smears all over you and the page.
2.Notebooks
It doesn't matter if it is a bound or spiral notebook, they can both be a pain when you are left-handed. A bound book can be hard to keep open when you write, especially if it's a composition book. Spiral bound spines get in the way and leave marks on your hand. I had a left-handed notebook one time that had spirals on the right side instead of the left. I used it in my English class one year in high school, and it confused my teacher every time she checked my work.
3. Dry Erase Boards
Nothing is more aggravating than writing something on a dry erase board and looking over and seeing that you wiped off everything you had just wrote. Such is the plight of the southpaw. Left-handed people have to hold the marker in such a way that our hand doesn't touch the board. Your handwriting looks terrible, but at least it's all there.
4. Scissors
Most scissors are not made to be held with the left, and some will not even work unless they are held in the right. Companies do make left-handed scissors, but they are hard to find. My parents bought me a pair of them one year for Christmas as a stocking stuffer. I'm not great at using them, though, because I trained myself to cut with my right hand when I was in preschool.
5. Restaurant Tables
This is something that is not often thought about, but if you are left handed, there are only certain seats that you can sit in at a restaurant. You have to always sit on the left-hand side of the table so that you do not elbow the right-hander next to you. This is okay if you sit on the aisle side of the table, but if you sit next to the wall and need to cut something, you have no room.
6. Drink Machines
Drink machines are made so that the money slots are recessed and the machine front sticks out farther than the money panel. This creates an edge that makes it impossible to stick money in with the left hand. Sure we can just stick the money in with our right, but it's aggravating when you are left hand dominant, go to stick the money in with the left, and are blocked.
Left-handed people are met all the time with challenges like these. We have to come up with creative ways to overcome the problem, and that is what makes us unique. Southpaws tend to be right brain dominant which is the creative side of the brain. This makes us creative problem solvers and highly equipped to work around any conundrums we encounter. I am proud of being left-handed and the advantage it gives me to solve any problem I encounter.
