I Am the Ten Percent

I AM THE TEN PERCENT

Virginia Lake

Unless one is Davinci or Michelangelo, and this one is not, there is little to celebrate being left-handed. From trying to use a right-bladed can opener I’ve torn the flesh across my right knuckles.

As anyone can see, cameras, cell phones, and even door knobs daily defeat me.

To people who say, ‘I’m ambidextrous,’ I say, ‘Forget about it.’ And to the smug, self-congratulatory right-handers, I have this rejoinder.

We left-handers have one thing to crow about: Our corpus callosum. It processes input between left brain and right brain, ours is bigger than yours. About twelve percent bigger. We think faster, and broader and deeper, and grasp more than one side of an issue, all useful traits in a world so relentlessly right-handed.