International Day of Lefties (13/08)

The modern world is created for people who do everything with their right hand. Writing and kitchen utensils, doors and locks, computer mice and much more are made for right-handed people. The rest adapt. Fortunately, left-handed schoolchildren are no longer forced to write with their right hand, but even now there are some parents, teachers or even teachers who are trying to retrain the «wrong child».

International Left-Handers Day was first celebrated on August 13, 1992 on the initiative of the British Left-Handers Club, created in 1990.

This Day is intended to draw public attention to the problems faced by left-handed people in the right-handed world; draw the attention of designers, manufacturers and sellers to the need to take into account the convenience of left-handed people when using various objects; dispel the prejudices and superstitions that have surrounded left-handed people for many centuries in various cultures; encourage scientific research in the field of studying the phenomenon of left-handedness.

However, the main concern of Left-Handed Clubs, and in particular — UK, is that in many schools in different countries, left-handed children are still sought to be retrained to write with their right hands, which causes psychological stress and reduces student achievement.

Left-handedness has been considered a deviation from the norm since ancient times. In Rus', left-handed people were treated suspiciously. They were even prohibited from testifying in court. It was believed that the devil himself was left-handed. And in Soviet schools, little left-handers were retrained without fail.

Psychologists believe that all left-handed people have a strong character and powerful creative potential.

According to statistics, from 3 to 10% of the world's population is left-handed.

There are many theories and assumptions about the causes of left-handedness, but the exact answer has not yet been found. Research into the genetic nature of left-sidedness is actively underway. According to doctors, the probability of a child developing left-handedness is 2% if the parents are right-handed, 17% if one of the parents is left-handed, and 46% if both parents are left-handed. If a person has the same right and left hand, he is considered an ambidextrous, and if both hands are difficult to use, then an ambisinister.

The list of famous people who did everything with «one left» amazes — Mark Twain, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Beethoven, Sergei Rachmaninov, Marilyn Monroe, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Robert de Niro... Other famous left-handed — players include Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte and Charlemagne, Winston Churchill and Horatio Nelson, three US presidents — Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and others.

Some scientists believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin is also a hidden left-hander. By the way, the Russian writer Nikolai Leskov, who wrote the famous story about Lefty, who shook a flea, in the 19th century, was also left-handed.

On the holiday itself, members of the British left-handed club urge everyone, for complete mutual understanding with left-handed people, to do everything with their left hand at least one day a year. Also on this day, left-handers around the world organize a variety of events, promotions and competitions.



Postcard «August 13 — International Left-Handed Day» Article «Lefty – genius or stepson of nature itself?»

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