Hail to the Southpaw

Abel and I are both left-handed and so we were shocked when it became clear that Lucas was favoring his right. Now that he's 2 1/2 it is pretty clear that he is going to be a full-fledged right-hander. And, to be honest, I feel a little bad for him. I mean, being a Southpaw is clearly the better way to be.

I admit I may be a bit biased to favor the left, but an article in Sunday's Washington Post confirmed it. Not only does the article tell us that leftys have stronger language abilities, they also have the "upper hand" in the race for the White House, "No matter who wins in November, six of the 12 chief executives since the end of World War II will have been left-handed: Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, the elder Bush, Clinton and either Obama or McCain. That's a disproportionate number, considering that only one in 10 people in the general population is left-handed."

I remember the 1992 Presidential race where all three candidates--Clinton, Dole and Perot--were Southpaws. And, this year it's happened again. Both Obama and McCain are left-handed. I guess it's because we're in the minority, but I feel a real kinship with other leftys and think it is pretty exciting that our next president will again favor the left (hopefully in more ways than one!!).

Now, if only our southpaw presidents would use their power to make some favorable changes to make life a bit easier for the rest of us. My first suggestion would be that all classrooms with those chair desks with table arms have a representative proportion of left-handed versions! I think I spent most of my college career painfully twisted around to write on the right or scrambling to grab a second desk to pull up to my left side.