Being Left is Alright!

Clapping with the right hand only will not produce a noise

~ Malayan Proverb

Most individual animals from dogs to cats, horses, toads, snails, humpback whales to chimpanzees show a tendency to favour one side of the body over the other. But scientists are still divided over whether any entire species favour one side over the other like the human right-handed majority (with the possible exception of the famously clever New Caledonian crows, who are reported to be right-eyed tool-makers)

On the other hand (pun intended) people are predominantly right-handed, right-eyed and right-legged, with the language speaking hardware located in the left side of the brain. Homo sapiens, in general, appears to have developed a specialization in the left side of the brain for language. 

Many humans are right-handed but show cross-dominance or even total ambidexterity. However, a small percentage of humans are left-handed, left-eyed and left-legged. Recent research adds to the slowly growing body of work supporting the hypothesis that people who favour their left hand for writing probably have brains that are more conducive to simultaneous, bi-hemisphere processing of information.

Since Roman times, left-handed people have had to bear the brunt of cultural superstitions, the left hand or left side being associated with uncleanliness, Satanism, Black Magic and other sinister practices.

Several research studies have failed to show that lefties have higher IQ’s than right-handed people, despite the fact that 20% of MENSA members are left-handed. Lefties do seem to perform slightly better at sport and gaming compared to right-handers. Left-handers are more often homosexual than right-handers.

The prevalence of post traumatic stress syndrome is double in left-handers compared to right-handers. Furthermore, statistics show left-handed people are more likely to suffer mental illnesses like schizophrenia. They are more prone to become alcoholic, delinquent, dyslexic and have Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, as well as poor memories and they're also more likely get into accidents and die young.

Historically, left-handed people as a group, have produced an above-average quota of high achievers, notably  Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Charlie Chaplin, Helen Keller, Winston Churchill, Martina Navratilova and many more.

“Left-handers are wired into the artistic half of the brain, which makes them imaginative, creative, surprising, ambiguous, exasperating, stubborn, emotional, witty, obsessive, infuriating, delightful, original, but never, never, dull.”  (DeKay and Huffaker)