The Left Hand Way

[glenn]

Sometime ago, before 9/11 and the political turbulence of recent years, I applied to work in Saudi Arabia. My qualifications for the position were good, and I was invited to an interview. The interview itself was quite informal. We chatted over tea and cookies, during which time it was observed that I handled food with my left hand. Was I perhaps ambidextrous, the interviewer asked in an anxious tone of voice. I explained that I was somewhat ambidextrous, particularly in sports, but in terms of handwriting I was very much left-handed.

It may be different now, but in Saudi culture of that time the left hand was considered unclean. The interviewer described to me how Bedouins, who, in the absence of toilet paper, performed certain acts of personal hygiene with the left hand. Because of this association, the interviewer went on, a man who handled food with his left hand was viewed with distaste by the Saudis. Saudi culture often took the association one step further, viewing left-handedness generally as a sign of inferior character.

At this point the interviewer apologetically explained that while my qualifications were very good indeed, the question of how my left-handedness would be received was very much an issue. The position involved close personal contact with Saudis as well as submission of handwritten reports (this being before the widespread use of computers), and in consequence the likelihood of my being hired to fill the position was very low. So ended the interview.

I recall feeling somewhat amused by the course the interview had followed. In retrospect, I suppose it was better for all concerned that the interviewer was forthright about how left-handedness was viewed by Saudi culture. Better to know beforehand than to be employed and learn too late the left-handed person was not welcome.


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In my first years of school, the prevailing view was that children should be required to learn to write with their right hands. When it was first discovered that my natural inclination was to hold a pencil in my left hand, my teacher attempted to convert me to the conventional right hand path.

I dimly recall rebelling against the attempted conversion. A phone call from teacher to parents ensued. The happy outcome of which was, through my parents' supportive intervention, that I was allowed to continue at school with a pencil in my left hand. Even later when I began to use a pen and would smear ink as my left hand dragged across the page, my parents remained strong in their support. The teacher might circle my smeared writing exercises with her disapproving red ink, but mom and dad did not fail me in my striving to be a unique individual with a triumphant pen in my left hand.

And for that I am grateful.

[Sam]

Hi! Glen!!!

From one lefty to another!!! I know exactly what you are talking about!!

When I was in the first grade my teacher tried the same thing with me. She even shamed me in front of the class and made me right with my right hand. I went home crying and my mom went to the school the next morning straight to the principal's office. They called the teacher into the office with them and I really don't know what was said in there, but when the door opened and the teacher stepped back out, she looked shorter to me. She never, ever mentioned my writing or which hand I used again, nor did any other teacher I ever had.

My mom was not a woman of many words, but the ones she used when she did speak were pretty forceful. ha

Sam

[anirbas]

I am not a leftie, but one of my sisters is. And she had the same problem in elementary school. It was either her first or second grade teacher that tried to force her to write with her other hand. And my mother, for once did the right thing, and had a meeting with her teacher, much as your parents, Glenn; and your mom, Sharon.

I think the practice of "converting" lefthanders, southpaws, as they say in the south, yes, Sam? Has largely been dropped in the past twenty, or so years. And rightly so.

Glenn, you write prose as well as you do poetry. And you, too, Sammy. In fact, Little Ms. Southpaw made an A on her semester exam, was it, Sam? Not bad for a left or right hander...Dratted excellent!

I thought I was going to read a poem, about being left handed, as I zoned into this thread, from the last thirty posts link...The true stories I read, by the both of you, were just as interesting, and I learned something, new...Superstitions, in any culture, are just so...
So...So...Wrong...As the kids say...LOL...

Waves and grins to the both of you and the rest of the crew, too! Sabrina.

[glenn]

Thanks, Sam and Sabrina, for the comments.

Yes, I think the forced conversion of lefties to righties is no longer done much any more in North American schools. Other cultures still can be much more regimented, though, from what I hear.

[glenn]

I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it call itself my home, my fatherland, my church; and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defense the only arms I allow myself to use – silence, exile, and cunning. ~~James Joyce

what is left?
what is left when the church is gone?
what is left is sacred
the spirit in the heart
when all the churches
lie in silent ruins

what is left
is what the right
holds prisoner with its sword
its laws of apartheid, oppression,
and injustice
what is left
is what is freed
when the sword
of unquestioned right is broken

what is left
when the state has fallen
what is left
is an unfolding mystery
a heartbeat
the rising ghost
of exiled life-yet-to-be

what is left
is a secret, cunning dwellingplace
between Earth and Sky
what is left
is where the soul resides
in harmonious balance
with what is left to it

[anirbas]

*CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!*
BrAvO! bRaVo! BRAVO!!!!!!!

I throughly enjoyed the reading of this entire piece, Glenn!
All I could think while reading it, was bravo...You go, man!

~*"what is left
is a secret, cunning dwellingplace
between Earth and Sky
what is left
is where the soul resides
in harmonious balance
with what is left to it"*~

~fragmentation of Glennic versifying.




psst...got more? hehe...
Nir.

[DavidMc]

Sir,

You are a writer of poise and elegance.

David

[glenn]

Interestingly, a reduction in the incidence of left-handedness in European populations occcured during the industrial revolution and continued in North America and Europe up until recent decades.

The pre-revolution incidence of left-handedness was about 1 in 6. It dropped below 1 in 20 during the period mentioned above, and presently appears to be returning to its pre-revolution levels.

Some countries continue to compel left-handers to become right-handed at school age.

[glenn]

A link to wikipedia's entry on left-handedness:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-handed

The section on left-handedness in Arab culture appears to corroborate the personal anecdote I gave in post 1.

[glenn]

And with that thought, I end my left-handed little story.

[bichsa]

Glenn as always terrific I concur with Anribas on this poetic lines:
~*"what is left
is a secret, cunning dwellingplace
between Earth and Sky
what is left
is where the soul resides
in harmonious balance
with what is left to it"*~

~fragmentation of Glennic versifying

As for left hand in the Islamic faith it is proper to do with the right hand verses the left .and it is correct as to clean oneself with the left hand .and eat and drink from the right.while there is some religious reason for this but the cultures have transformed it into an omen type of thing like a black catI believe God is All Knowing and All compasionate. so their silly rules on such a thing has been greatly far stretched. Just a little education to add. you always bring a smile to my face.much peace to you Glenn!C.

[anirbas]

Every since I read this thread, I've been practicing here and there, to try to write the alphabet and my name with my left hand. I can now print my first, last and middle name and it be readable, if shaky. But, my cursive writing is totally unreadable after the first two letters of my first name. I wanted to see what it felt like to be made to write with the opposite hand of the one I am comfortable with writing with...LOL...Yes, I'm nuts...But, only every other day of the week...

In junior high and high school, I used to mimic my friends and others writing...All the lefthanders, I ever knew, save one, slant their writing back to the left...Glenn, Sammy, do you guys, do so? My sister was the only left hander whose writing I've seen different than that...
She writes in a straight up and down fashion...Neither slanting to left or right...

I noticed the other day, my daughter's handwriting had changed since fifth grade...I was teasing her about it...Asking which friend's handwriting she was mimicing...She denied she was doing so...But, I know that's not her handwriting...Found a note from one of her girlfriend's after that...And found the writing she's "copying"...Perhaps, there was a forgery artist somewhere up our ancestral line? LOL

[glenn]

Somehow or other I have managed to develop an ability to write left-handed so that the letters don't slant one way or the other. I believe my teachers' criticism had something to do with developing this talent. But I know what you mean, Sabrina, about lefties having backward leaning handwriting.

The greater problem for me was with the old style ball-point pens that had very slow drying ink. Left-handed writers have to drag the heel of their hands through their writing, smearing the ink as they go. Perhaps the backward leaning writing happens as lefties shift their hand position so the their writing is above the level of the heel of their hand. Personally, I altered the way I point the pen with my fingers. Awkward, but effective at eliminating ink smear. I also alternate between cursive writing and printing. Somehow a teacher's frown appears in my memory as I admit to this.

[anirbas]

Heck, I'm right handed and had problems with old pens with slow drying ink. I alternate between cursive and printing, but not at the same time. I was so glad when I reached high school and writing was no longer so important, more the content of what you were writing was important, and could the teacher read your handwriting, irregardless of the writing style you wrote it in.

Used to freak out my teachers, that every paper I turned in, was written in a different style...LOL...I'm telling you...I should have been a forgery artist...They did their most frowning and complaining when I copied my left handed girlfriend's writing style and lay all my letters back to the left...It was funny and one harmless way I could give my teachers a headache,
without bucking authority, at the time...*t-he*

Just thinking of it, they probably thought I suffered from multiple personalities...LOL...

Great Sundaying Glenn and folks...Flipping outta the box and back into Nirland...Nir.

[glenn]

Sabrina: you might get a smile out of the photos of lefties writing on this link:

www.nibs.com/Left-hand%20writers.htm

My handwriting is most like that in photo #7 (you'll have to scroll down a bit to find it).

[heartfelt7]

There is a quote by James Joyce and a poem by Glenn (above) that has just been inscribed on my Heart. Joseph Campbell spoke of a left hand way to search for personal truth. The Way of the Tao, Christ's Way, Buddha's Middle Way, the Path of the Heart. We are all looking for the Way. Are they tributaries all leading the same direction? I don't know, but I love both poems!!!! Here is an exalt years later!! (ha)

[glenn]

Thanks for the exalt, Heartbeat!

Funny how it can be to read something like this -- what? -- six years later. Almost had forgotten I wrote it.

[heartfelt7]

That poem is not one to forget. I guess it spoke to me. Wonderful.

[phantasm]

I''m a leftie, too. Southpaws of the world, unite!