Since the time I was young, I’ve been victimized as part of a marginalized minority.
Obviously at first, I was unaware that I was anything special until one day, a teacher
all of a sudden slapped me, referred to me as a moral deviant and a tool of the devil
and then forcefully tried to convert me.
What was it that she noticed about me that bothered her so much that she even told my
parents!
I couldn’t have been more than four years old at the time… but the immoral offense
that provoked her...
Was the fact that I was coloring with my left hand.
You see, on the ride home I later found out was a devout Christian and she believed that
my left-handedness was something sinister and simply not right with God (no pun intended).
Despite growing up and having to conform to right-handed structures in society, I never
had any other incidents as dramatic as that first one that made me feel inferior until
a recent trip to Ghana, in West Africa.
There on a mission trip, I was reminded of my so-called “deviance” when I began guest
teaching in a room full of third graders.
I simply began writing my name on the board when the class erupted into laughter, finger pointing,
and name-calling.
Their teacher just stood there... snickering to herself.
To make matters worse, the next morning, while going up to receive communion at mass, I was
again reminded of the left-handed stigma when the priest hesitated to put the host into
my palm.
He awkwardly rearranged my hands to place the Blessed Eucharist so that my right hand
would be used to consume it.
He then proceeded to lecture the entire congregation on the “proper way” to receive communion.
All of us lefties on that trip forced ourselves to comply for the remainder of the time we
were there.
So why so much prejudice against us lefties?
Left-handedness is mentioned 25 times in the Judeo-Christian Bible
describing it as … as someone deserving of a lesser blessing (Gen 48)
… as conniving (Matthew 6)
.... as a fool (Ecclesiastes 10:2) … as someone cursed into everlasting fire
with the devil (Matthew 25
It was believed that Eve was developed from Adam’s left side, resulting in left-handneness
not only being also associated with feminitity, but consequently inferiority.
During the Spanish Inquisition, the Catholic Church would condemn -- and occasionally execute
-- those who used their left hand.
Likewise, across the Atlantic at the Salem Witch Trials, left-handedness was one of many
pieces of evidence used to implicate those suspected of witchcraft.
At the turn of the 20th century, the left hand was looked at by scientists as not the
mark of the devil, but as the result of biological abnormality -- labeling those of us who possess
this trait as primitive, abnormal, uncivilized, and more inclined to commit a crime.
Psychoanalysts even came to see lefties as a sign of homosexuality or general sexual
deviancy, including incest and perversion.
As the century progressed, Educators viewed left-handed students not as pupils, but as
problems.
Some teachers, like the one from 30 years ago, resolved to retrain
left-handed students to write with their right hands, in spite of the mental, emotional,
and psychological distress that it could lead to.
In the 1970s, left-handed children were considered academically and behaviorally challenged,
and disposed to diseases including schizophrenia.
In the two decades that followed, psychologists noted that left-handed people lived shorter,
poorer lives, and that being left-handed was the result of “neurological insult or physical
malfunctioning”.
The word itself doesn’t help us out all that much either.
The Old English meaning of Left (lyft) meant “Weak, idle, foolish”
Whereas right meant “just, good, fair, proper, fitting, and straight.”
This series of course isn’t about science, educational theories, or linguistics, so I’m
not going to attempt to explain any of those latter points.
But I can at least tackle the biblical and theological perspectives on left-handedness.
As always, it’s important when reading anything, especially Scripture, to look at the history
of the text, including authorship, audience, and the culture in which it was written.
While the Bible does record characters assuming rightcentric cultural norms, it doesn’t
state that rebuking the left-hand side is valid.
For instance, JACOB used his left hand to give a lesser blessing to Joseph’s older
son (Gen 48:14, 19), but it was still a good blessing.
Left-handed warriors were singled out for their skill in battle (Judges 3:15-21; 20:16;
1 Chronicles 12:2, and Matthew 20:21 shows that being seated at the left side of the
king was still a coveted position of authority and power.
One main historical reason for the dirty perception of the left, comes down to toiletry habits.
Left has been associated with uncleanliness by societies who lacked plumbing and the modern
luxury of toilet paper.
After relieving oneself, one was required to clean themselves using their non-dominant
hand.
And so it would’ve been considered offensive to use that hand for any other purpose….
including holding a fork, shaking hands with others, waving, or even simply raising that
hand higher than the waist level.
You wouldn’t serve dinner on a toilet bowl right?
Then Why would you use your toilet hand for anything other than uncleanliness?
And hence the reputation of the LEFT being dirty.
If you think that sounds crazy, men, take a look at where the flush valve is the next
time you use a urinal.
In short, this is an example of theological cultural appropriation.
God does not hate lefties.
Nor does God favor the right.
Scripture scribes simply wrote to specific audiences who were already using their non-dominant
hands to clean their hineys and so the righthanded preference found its way into the actions
of the Bible.
Overall, It’s silly to think that a society would categorize a population’s entire moral
character and self-worth based on one physical trait that they were born with and for all
intents and purposes, doesn’t do a single thing to hurt other people.
It’s silly to think that unless a person is willing to undergo the emotional and psychological distress of a forced conversion, that they would be accused of being a tool of the devil and thus worthy of damnation.
It’s also silly that this trait has been offensively labeled as a biological abnormality
-- or unnatural if you will -- and that it’s a sign of degeneracy and sexual perversion
that poses a threat to families and society.
But I guess this is the cross we are forced to bare.
All for having the audacity to want to follow through with our inborn inclination
to write with our left hand.