However, people are often amazed by my ability to mirror-write or reverse letters with ease.
I have always put this down to my acute left-handedness. I blame my inability to use can openers, screwdrivers and scissors on the same thing. You see, I, like somewhere in the region of 10 to 14 per cent of the worlds population, am a left-handed person living in a right-handed world.
OK, so perhaps left-handed young people today do not struggle with the outright hatred of previous generations prejudices that can be traced back to early Greek-Christian beliefs that left-handedness was a sign of satanic influence. Pictures show the Devil sitting to the left of God, while Jesus sits in the place of honour; literally Gods right hand man. This notion of good and bad is mirrored in religions and cultures all over the world.
Later practices of tying childrens left hand behind their back to force them to write with their right hand died out in Britain in the late 19th century, thankfully. But did you know that even now a technical term for being left-handed is sinistral? From the Latin word sinister, originally meaning left, but subsequently meaning evil or unlucky?
People talk about taking the right path or being right about something without a thought for the implied meaning behind this.
A more positive belief is that left-handed people are more creative. A fledgling left-hander, conforming to western left-to-right writing and struggling not to smudge ink, should look to artistic geniuses Picasso or Leonardo Da Vinci for inspiration. And what budding musician could fail to be impressed with left-handed rock gods Kurt Cobain and Joe Strummer or Jimmi Hendrix, who famously played his guitar left-handed? It is not just the rockers that are left-handed; R Kelly, 50 Cent and Jay-Z also share the same characteristic.
So is it a gift or a curse? Probably neither, although I am sure it is seen as both by most left-handers at some time. Instead, left-handed young people need encouragement to achieve and to speak out about the difficulties they face in a world designed on the right or is that the wrong side.
Vanessa Rogers is a youth work trainer, consultant and author, vanessa.rogers@haymarket.com
