Left-Handers’ Day!

Today, 13th August is Left-Handers’ Day. About 13 percent of the world population is left-handed and today is a day meant for them to celebrate the advantages of their creative right brain/hemisphere and project the difficulties they face in a world dominated by right handed persons. Left-handed persons face challenges in doing ordinary things because so many tools and facilities are created for the right-handed. It is said that around 2500 left-handed people are killed every year using things made for right-handed people. So certainly Lefties need consideration.

In India it is considered bad manners to use left hand for eating, handing over things and while offering prayers, so people scorn them. And in many families young children born with left-hand tendencies are forced very severely to use only right hand. This is considered wrong. Being right-handed or left-handed is a function of the brain and genetic. The way the brain works is incredibly complex. The brain is cross-wired so that the left hemisphere controls the right handed side of the body and the right hemisphere controls the left handed side of the body.  So the hand dominance is connected with brain dominance on the opposite side.

The dominant left hemisphere (Right hand control) controls Speech, Language, Writing, Logic, Mathematics, Science…this is the Linear Thinking Mode.

The dominant right hemisphere (Left hand control) controls Music, Art, Creativity, Perception, Emotions, Genius…this is Holistic Thinking Mode. So the left-handers are more likely than right-handers to be creative and visual thinkers and thereby shine in certain jobs and professions, music and arts. So on this day let us congratulate them and wish them A Very Happy International Left-Handers’ Day!