Yesterday, I found out that Obama is also left handed and that got me wondering how many American presidents were left handed? A quick Google search revealed that since 1945, five of twelve presidents have been left-handed: Truman, Ford, Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton.After coming to Canada I quickly realized that being a southpaw was quite acceptable and not like in Switzerland frowned upon. Growing up a lefty in Switzerland wasn't easy, luckily things have changed greatly.
I inherited my left handedness from my mother and it got her into trouble growing up also. For her writing with her left hand never was a possibility. The teacher even gave her a hard time when she was sewing with her left hand. Does it really matter which direction the stitches of a handsewn seam go?
My trouble started when I started grade 1 in April of 1960. The teacher at first watched me write with my left hand and said that it looked like it was printed by a machine, but that did not seem to matter. The school system did not allow writing with the wrong hand. The teacher wrapped clear masking tape around my left hand, so that I could not use it to write, even though I somehow still managed at times. It took me 6 weeks to learn to write with my right hand and I was awarded a 100 g chocolate bar by the teacher.
So I wrote with my right hand. Yes it looked nice, but I was just so slow and awkward and hated it. Then about 3 months before I graduated from commercial school, after writing with my right hand for almost 12 years, I switched back to my left hand. I can't remember the reason any longer, but I vaguely recall that on my way to school in the train I found it easier to write with my left hand while balancing the notebook on my right hand.
Once my mother found out about my switch, she got very angry. The reason to understand why eluded me. The only thing I lost by switching hands to write was my shorthand skills as they were totally based on the right slanted, right handed way of writing. As a lefty I found writing straight up or even slightly slanted to the left made more sense. The other thing I changed was that all the loops of letters that have upper loops like: h, m, n, I turned into lower loops, so that an n looked like an u.
The other observation about being left-handed is that I can do a lot more with my right hand than a right-handed person can do with their left hand. Things I can't do with my right hand are spreading butter or jam or using scissors. I can use a spoon, but it is very awkward.
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