Left-Handed and Left Behind?

Not Anymore.

Since the dawn of man — or at least since cavemen started scratching their stories on walls — left-handers have gotten the short end of the stick. Or worse, the wrong end of the ruler. We’ve been swatted, scolded, and straight-up retrained just for using the hand that felt… you know, natural.

Today, it’s still commonly claimed that only 10% of the world’s population is left-handed. But let’s be honest: that number has been cooked. For centuries, lefties were “converted” to right-handedness like it was a cult. If we accounted for all the kids forced to swap their pencils into the “holy hand,” the true number would probably be closer to 20%.

But who gets to write the story of left-handedness? Usually, not the left-handers. And when we do, we smudge it. Literally.

Historically, being left-handed was considered everything from suspicious to Satanic. In many languages, the word left still translates to “clumsy,” “awkward,” “evil,” or “unlucky.” And sure enough, art throughout the ages loved to paint Satan as a southpaw. (Can you imagine the pitchfork logistics?)

Even once science stepped in and revealed that the right side of the brain controls the left hand — and is responsible for creativity, imagination, and all the fun stuff — people still clung to the idea that left = wrong. By that logic, wouldn’t the right-handers be the problem? Just saying.

Let’s flip the script: if the world were built for left-handers, right-handers would look hilariously uncoordinated trying to use our scissors, peel our potatoes, or write in our notebooks without leaving ink stains on their sleeves. Yet for us, this is daily life. We are not clumsy — we’ve just been set up. Like a cruel game of Twister where all the circles are on the wrong side.

Now, let’s talk numbers. If the 10% stat is even remotely true, that still makes us over 700 million strong. That’s not a niche. That’s a movement. And yet… we’re still underrepresented, underserved, and underestimated. In fact, some lefties die every year using right-handed tools that aren’t designed for our survival. Death by can opener? Really?

Around the world, the stigma lingers. In places like China, less than 1% of the population is openly left-handed. Why? Because it’s discouraged from the cradle. Across the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe, left-handedness is “tolerated” at best, and squashed at worst. Imagine being born wired one way and told you’re facing the wrong direction.

Even nature itself couldn’t save us. The natural rotation for a lefty is counterclockwise — which once got people accused of being witches. That’s right. Walk around a building the "wrong way" in 17th-century Salem, and poof — you’re firewood. The Puritans were not big on nuance. Their trials basically worked like this: “If you drown, you’re innocent. If you float, you’re a witch. If you survive fire, congratulations — you’re also a witch.” Tough crowd.

And yet, despite all this, we persist. In my years as a southpaw, I’ve been called everything from disabled to cursed. But the only curse here is the world’s refusal to accommodate us. Right-handed people rarely need their left hand — it’s like the intern of the body, just there to hold stuff. But lefties? We’ve had to learn to use both. Adapt or fail. And guess what? We adapted.

Left-handers have highly developed brains — often showing more balance between the hemispheres. While righties tend to think in straight lines, lefties think in constellations. We don’t think outside the box… we don’t even see the box.

It’s time we start treating left-handedness as the gift it is — a sign of creativity, flexibility, and resilience. Just look at the list of 21 legendary lefties on this site. These people didn’t “overcome” being left-handed — they leaned into it (with their left side, of course). From artists and athletes to leaders and legends, they changed the world without switching hands.

So here’s the truth: the world doesn’t need fewer lefties. It needs more left-handed thinking. We’re talking nearly a billion of us — it’s time our voices were heard, not hushed.