SOUTHPAW

TWO POLLS at right for you to vote in this week. The first is based on THIS blog. The second is based on the January 14th blog. Thanks.

I was at a store today and the cashier was writing something on a piece of paper. His arm was at such an odd angle as he was writing, I honestly thought he might have some disability - but then I realized he was just LEFT-HANDED and he was writing in that contortionist way it seems many lefties do.

Only 7-10% of the country is left-handed. I've heard that left-handed people have a suspicion that they are 'less-than' in some way or another. I used to think it was all nonsense until some people started telling me about all the advantages righties have without even realizing it.

I do remember way back in Latin high school class that the word for 'left' was 'sinestra,' where we get our word 'sinister.' Similar translations are also found in Italian and Spanish. In many European langauges, "right" is not only a synonym for correctness, it also stands for authority and justice.

If you go WAY, WAY back - the "hand" was a symbol of power. The left hand symbolized the power to shame society, and was used as a metaphor for misfortune and evil. This metaphor survived ancient culture and was integrated into mainstream Christianity. Being right-handed has also historically been thought of as being skillful: the Latin word for 'right' is 'dexter,' as in 'dexterity.' You've heard of someone having 'two left feet?' In other words, they're real clumsy. You get the idea.

A left-handed individual is sometimes referred to as a southpaw. The term comes from the game of baseball. Ballparks were originally designed so batters would face east. That way, the afternoon or evening sun wouldn't shine in their eyes. That meant left-handed pitchers would be throwing with their south-side arm.

Left-handed people are sometimes placed at a disadvantage by the prevalence of a right-handed society. Many tools and devices are designed to be comfortably used with the right hand. Scissors, for instance. They do make left-handed scissors, but for scissors to function in a truly left-handed manner, their blades must also be mirror-inverted, so the leftie doesn't have to make a blind cut because the blade obscures the paper from view - most aren't. The computer mouse is sometimes made to fit the right hand better. Even a lot of kitchen knives are designed for the rightie. Left-handed adaptations have bridged the world of music, too. Special guitars have to be made for left-handers. They cost more and they're tough to find. The vast majority of firearms are designed for right-handed shooters, with the operating handle, magazine release and safety mechanisms set up for manipulation by the right hand.

When we went to India, we were told it was rude to shake hands with your left hand, because in India, the left hand was more unclean than the right. This would be for sanitary-slash-excretory reasons and that's all I'm going to say about that.

In his book "Right-Hand, Left-Hand," Chris McManus 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. In 2006, researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that left-handed men are 15 percent richer than right-handed men, on average.

Four of our last six U.S. Presidents were left-handers, as were Henry Ford, Helen Keller, Mark Twain, Michelangelo, Joan of Arc, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Queen Victoria and Ehud (the left-handed judge in Judges chapter 3). Oh yeah - and my grandmother is left-handed, too.

So, which are you? Rightie or Leftie? Vote in the top poll at right.

And be blessed.