Left handedness is a condition that everyone knows exists, but few care enough to even accept the fact that we Lefties are discriminated against. One problem is that many of us give in and "Pass" for being "normal". It was bad enough being singled out when I picked up my first pencil in my left hand, my penmanship teachers didn't know how to deal with me. So when I took up the violin I instinctively bowed with my right arm, thus, passing.
I was so left handed that I even kicked left footed. But when I picked up a base ball bat I saw no other boy on the playing field bat left handed, so I learned to bat like all the others.
I would still postulate that the right handed world cannot truly understand what it is to be left handed in a right handed world. People try, they really do. "Oh, I understand what you have to deal with. I broke my right arm once and had it in a cast for a month, so I know how it is." But it's not the same. Going a month in a cast would be like wearing sleep shades for a week. You get tuned into all the frustrations but never really get into learning to live it.
Years ago I attended a meeting of the Radical Women in Seattle at the invitation of my sister. I really got into some of the dispicable ways many of these women had been treated. At one point I sounded off, ending by saying, "As a blind man, I understand discrimination. I know what you are all going through." The room went dead, cold silent. One woman spoke up and said, "I have been discriminated against, but I have no idea of what it is like to be blind." I quickly accepted that honest assessment and went back to eating the free cookies.
Curious Carl
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