Thoughts from a Southpaw

Recently, during my morning Bible reading I ran across two different scriptures that talked about people being left-handed.

Both were in the book, Judges, that tells of the many times, often each generation, when Israel would turn away from God to other gods.  Then they would be overrun by others as part of God’s judgment and in their distress would cry out to Him for deliverance.  He would bring a deliverer, a judge, and things would be good again for awhile until the next generation strayed again.

Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them a deliverer — Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. (Judges 3:15 )

In a later part of Judges, the tribe of Benjamin was getting ready to go to war and it notes that 700 of these soldiers were left-handed and were famous for their accuracy with a sling.

At once the Benjamites mobilized twenty-six thousand swordsmen from their towns, in addition to seven hundred chosen men from those living in Gibeah. 16 Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.  (Judges 20:15-16)

Those are the only two scriptures that refer to people who are left-handed and they are both positive references.  That caught my eye because I am left-handed and one of my sons is also left-handed.

Positive references to left-handed folks hasn’t always been the case.  When I started first grade my teacher tried to force me to write with my right hand so I would become right-handed.  When my mother found out she straightened the teacher out and that ended that.  However, for many years through elementary school the left-handers were all placed in seats closest to the windows so we could have more light to see over our curled left hands as we struggled to write in cursive.

Left-handedness has always had a somewhat negative connotation.  The word ‘sinister’ comes from the Latin ‘sinestra’ that originally meant ‘left.’  ‘Right’ always has a positive connotation meaning the correct or proper way.

If you’re clumsy you’re said to have ‘two left feet’.  The French and Czech have a similar expression - ‘two left hands.’  In England and Australia a left-handed person is referred to as ‘cack-handed’ or ‘cacky-handed.’  In the traditional Muslim world the left hand is used to clean oneself after going to the bathroom and the right hand is used to eat with (don’t let your left hand get close to your mouth for obvious reasons).

Clearly, the world is designed for right-handed people from the way door knobs are put on doors, scissors are made, down to even how knife blades are sharpened.  You have to look, but you can find many left-handed items.

The general estimate is that approximately 10 – 12% of the total population is left-handed.

So, I guess that makes us special.  There are many famous left-handers:

Albert Einstein, Angelina Jolie, Barack Obama, Bruce Willis, George H. W. Bush, Hugh Jackman, Jimi Hendrix, Lady GaGa, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Oprah, Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Joan of Arc, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Queen Victoria, Fidel Castro, Henry Ford, Buzz Aldrin, Jay Leno, Dave Letterman, and, most important – Bart Simpson.

Finally, there is one thing I have noted about left-handers all my life.  Because we are forced to by a right-handed world, most left-handers can use their right hand much better than most right-handers can use their left hand.

So there.