(Photo by Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images for US Postal Service)
(Photo by Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images for US Postal Service)
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Are you left-handed? Are many things backwards for you? Scissors, kitchen gadgets or power tools? We write from left to right and that can cause left-handers to curl their wrist to better view their thoughts on paper.

Many tools and machines are more favorable to right handers then lefties.

Here are some things my may have known and not known about our left-handed citizens.

Fun Facts About Left-Handed Folks

  • If you are left-handed you are about 10 percent of the world’s population.
  • Some of the more famous southpaws are Napoleon, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, President Obama, President Clinton, and President Bush 41, and of course rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix (Shown Above).
  • Forty percent of schizophrenics are left-handed even though they are only 10 percent of the world’s population.
  • August 13th is officially “Left-Handers Day.” The celebration began in 1996.
  • Left-handed people chew food on the left side of their mouths while us right-handed folks do just the opposite.
  • Twenty-five hundred left-handed people die each year using tools and equipment that are designed for right-handed use.
  • If you are right-handed you have a three year longer life expectancy than your left-handed cohorts.
  • Studies have shown that there are more left-handed people with IQ’s over 140 than right-handed people. Perhaps being really smart is an acceptable tradeoff for dying three years earlier or being killed by some tool.
  • If you were born premature there is a good chance you are left-handed if you believe some of the studies done on that topic.
  • Even in war left-handed soldiers have to make adjustments. Hand grenades are held upside down for lefties because of the way the safety pin is designed.
  • Your genetic makeup only accounts for about a 25 percent chance of being left-handed.
  • According to research right-handed people handle post-traumatic stress disorder far better than left-handers.
  • A study also suggests that left-handed people earn about 12 percent less than right-handed people.

Some Final Thoughts

While some of the above might show left-handers in a less than positive light I have a theory as to why.

In school many teachers would not accept left-handedness. You were forced to write with your right hand. I think this might have caused some students to do less than they could if the teacher had allowed the use of their dominant hand.

That’s why I started the facts with famous people. Right or left-handed, success is usually determined by what’s between your ears, not which hand you write with.

If you are a good left-handed pitcher you’ll have a better chance making it into the big leagues. At first base being left-handed gives you an advantage.

There is always good and bad in everything if you look hard enough.

Believe it or not I typed this blog with both hands.

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