Left Hand/Right Hand

"Everyone is born right-handed. Only the greatest overcome it." A quote from I don't know who...but the S-I-L will appreciate it.
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It has always mystified me why some people are left dominate while the majority is right dominate. I haven't made an in-depth study of this subject but I really doubt that even the so-called experts know. In my opinion it's a gift that God presents to some of his kids. Some welcome it and some don't.
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I got to thinking about all the left handed people that I've known. I can't think of one that isn't highly intelligent and extremely creative.
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In my family, we are all very normal...all right dominate. But one of the daughters married a left hander! In their early dating and early marriage days, when we ate together, I always felt the need to "help" the S-I-L manipulate his knife and fork! But as far as I know, I always refrained.

Some studies argue a correlation between left-handedness and creativity/intelligence.

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"In his book Right-Hand, Left-Hand, Chris McManus of University College London, argues that the proportion of left-handers is rising and left-handed people as a group have historically produced an above-average quota of high achievers. He says that left-handers' brains are structured differently in a way that widens their range of abilities, and the genes that determine left-handedness also govern development of the language centers of the brain."

Could God have been left handed?

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A little joke that I've recently read:

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"Little Bobby was spending the weekend with his grandmother. His grandmother decided to take him to the park on Saturday morning. It had been snowing all night and everything was beautiful.His grandmother remarked, "Doesn't it look like an artist painted this scenery? Did you know God painted this just for you?"Bobby said, "Yes, God did it and he did it left-handed."This confused his grandmother a bit, and she asked him, "What makes you say God did this with his left hand?"Well," said Bobby, "we learned at Sunday School last week that Jesus sits on God's right hand!"

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Well....I'm sure, whether left-handed, right-handed, ambidextrous, or no hands at all, God can do anything he chooses.

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I do know that dominance plays a huge part in cognitive and motor skills. As a teacher of young children I saw the evidence of this many times.

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One year, a little 6 year old boy was assigned to my Pre-First Grade Class. These were children who had been in kindergarten a year but weren't ready for first grade. Steve was one of the cutest little guys I had ever seen. And every day for six weeks he cried.

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And he cried.

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And he cried.

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During our time of writing, he cried. During the time for math he cried. I was almost at my wit's end.

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One day, he said "I just can't do it! I just can't do it!"

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I sat down by him and tried to encourage him to write his name for me. He picked up his pencil with his right hand and I watched him try to manipulate and control his pencil. It wobbled and it twisted and he scrawled. He had no control over it at all.

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On my desk was a small rubber ball. I went over, picked it up and tossed it to Steve, saying, "Hey, Steve! Catch this ball". It caught him off guard and he missed the ball, but guess which hand he was using? Yes...his left hand.

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I then laid the ball on his desk and asked him to throw it to me. He picked it up with his left hand and tossed it back.

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"Steve, which hand do you use most when you're at home?"

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"This one", he said, meaning his left hand.

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"Why are you using your right hand at school...to write and do your numbers?"

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"My mom told me to. She said you're not supposed to use that hand at school. It makes you different from all the other kids".

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Well...to make a long story short, mom and I had a talk, and Steve started using his left hand at school. In 6 weeks time, he had far surpassed the rest of the class. At the end of the year, he was promoted to a First Grade class. At the end of the first 6 weeks of the following fall, Steve was placed in the second grade because he was so much more advanced, academically than his peers.

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I tried to keep up with Steve's progress, and did, until he reached Junior High. Then I lost track of him. I've often thought about this boy and have wondered where he is and what he's doing. He would be a grown man at this writing.

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I don't know why I chose this subject to write about except that I always notice the left or right dominance of people. Even while I'm watching movies, I notice which hand the characters use.

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It doesn't take a lot to entertain me! And, I might add, it doesn't take a lot to entertain Hubs. As I was at the computer working on this very informative post of which everyone needs to be aware, he yelled at me from the living room,

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"Hey! Did you know Senator John McCain is left-handed?"