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Gerardo Pullin

Scott Wheatley

English 101-202

2 November 2015

Too Many Stuff on the Right

Have you ever wondered why there are right handed people and left handed people in the

world? Probably not! I think that not many pay too much attention to the fact that there are right

and left handed people. Well in reality there are only ten percent of the human population that is

left handed. Personally, I found it very interesting to start living like a left handed person instead

of a right handed person. I wanted to learn how is it to live my daily life using my other hand for

everything. I was going to immerse myself for one day. After I immersed myself into being a left

handed person I learned how difficult it is to be a left handed person and that I don’t function

very well when I use my left hand to do everything.

Before I started to conduct this immersion I speculated that it would be hard for me to do

everything with my left hand. I thought I was going to do things slower and when it came to my

writing I knew it was going to be horrible. With my right hand I write very sloppy so imagine

how I will write with my left hand. If I grabbed the fork or the spoon while eating with my left

hand, I imagined I was going to make a total mess on the kitchen table. I also knew it was going

to be difficult to accustom to act as if I was a left handed person, especially when all my life I

have done everything with my right hand. I am very accustomed to using my right hand. I

definitely knew it was going to be a challenge.

It was Friday and I started using my left hand since I woke up. I brushed my teeth using

my left hand, and I couldn’t coordinate my hand to move properly. It took me about ten minutes

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to finish brushing my teeth the way I like to brush them. With my right hand I usually take two

or three minutes. It took me about eight or seven minutes more to finish brushing them. By nine

in the morning I had breakfast and “Oh My God!’’, it was a complete nightmare to have

breakfast. For breakfast I had a plate of beans, with sausage, ham, and tortillas. Trying to grab

the beans with the tortilla was very hard, I struggled a lot. Instead of having more beans on the

tortilla, I had more beans all over my hand. Then, when it came to cutting the ham to eat it in

slices, I just couldn’t bring the fork with the ham into my mouth. It was as if my brain was not

functioning. I couldn’t coordinate a single movement. It took me more time to put the food into

my mouth, than what it took to devour it. After having breakfast I went and took a shower. As

silly as it sounds, I could not get the damn soap! It slipped out of my left hand. I think it’s way

easier to catch a pig full of grease, than grabbing a piece of soap with the hand you don’t usually

use.

By noon, I started working on my math homework. I had a piece of scratch paper to solve

my math problems. While I was doing my homework I couldn’t understand my handwriting. I

was not sure what numbers I was looking at. By the time I had to put the answer into

MyMathLab, I saw my answer on the scratch paper and I couldn’t read it. It was a complete

mess. I usually have terrible hand writing with the hand I use, just imagine how it was with the

hand I don’t use. I knew immersing myself into the world of a left handed person was going to

be a difficult task, but I never thought that it was going to be this hard. It was almost impossible.

Especially, due to people’s reactions.

The reactions my family had were funny, because they were confused as to why I was

using my left hand if I am a right handed person. When I made the mess in the kitchen while

having breakfast my mom was there. She got angry at me because she saw the mess I made. She

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told me in a loud voice, “Que cochinero isistes, parese que comio un puerco en la cocina!” I just

started laughing because she was pissed at me. Later, I taped my right hand so I wouldn’t feel

tempted to use my right hand. Then, my dad arrived from Walmart and grabbing his black

mustache he asked me to take down the groceries from the car. I went outside to go for the

groceries that were in the car and my dad saw my right hand wrapped in black tape. He told me

in a funny voice, “estas locito, oh por que tienes la mano con tape.” I hadn’t told anyone that I

was immersing myself to the left handed subculture because I wanted to see the reaction people

had. Thus, I decided not to answer my dad. I just grabbed as many grocery bags as I could with

my left hand and started walking to the house. My dad got annoyed when I didn’t answer.

Later that day I went to buy ice cream at a place called, “Botanitas.” When I arrived, I

still had the tape on my hand. I pulled the door to enter the yellow with blue building and I

noticed the lady wearing a red shirt and black jeans that was mopping the floor made a funny

face when she spotted me. I think she freaked out when she saw I had my hand taped. I

proceeded walking and went to order my ice cream cone. The employee that was taking the

orders asked me while moving his hand, “Hi, what are you having today.” I responded, “Hi can I

have two chocolate ice cream cones.” He then replied, “Okay it will be three dollars.” I took out

the money and payed him. He went to grab the cones and added an ice cream scoop to each cone.

He gave me the ice cream cones, and I grabbed both of them with my left hand. He told with a

weird looking expression, “your ice cream cones will fall why don’t you grab them with your

both hands.” I responded, “I can handle them with my left hand, it’s okay.” He just looked at me

with a funny expression. I turned around and left.

Those were my experiences when I immersed myself into becoming a left handed person.

I enjoyed the reactions people had when I used only my left hand. They all reacted the same way.

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They were all freaked out because I was only using my left hand, and I had tape on my right

hand. One thing that I did notice was that everything was designed for a right handed person. I

noticed that my Play Station Three turns on from the right side, even the Blu-ray and my T.V.

Even when I opened the door from the ice cream shop it opens from the right side. This world is

designed only for right handed people.

The next day I interviewed my friend Zulema Lopez. She is a twenty-four year old left

handed person. She is tall and chubby with black curly hair. She has a white color skin and she is

very friendly. We met at her house in San Luis, Az. When I arrived to her house to conduct the

interview, I knocked and she opened the door. She said, “Hi come on in.” I told her that I

became a left handed person for a day. In a voice that chuckled she replied, “Haha cool, was it

hard?’’ I then said, “It was terrible, I just don’t work with my left hand. It is very hard.’’ I then

began the interview and I asked her, “What are your struggles on being a left handed person?”

She answered me back stating, “There are many struggles. For example, when I drive I get

confused because I am using my right foot on the pedals and my left hand on the steering wheel.

It is very difficult to concentrate while I am driving.” Then, she also told me that one of the

things she hates the most about being a left handed person is that when she writes, her hands gets

dirty with the lead of the pencil. “Every time I write my hand gets all black.” she added.

My second question to her was how people looked at her when they knew she was a left

handed person. She replied, “Well first of all, when people notice that I am a left handed they

react in a good way. They say wow that’s very cool. People treat me the same way as they treat a

right handed people. We are in a century were society doesn’t criticize you or make fun of you

because you are a left handed person. They don’t see you in a different way.’’

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My last question from the interview to my friend Zulema was how do you live in a world

where everything is designed for a right handed person? In a squeaky voice she replied, “You

have to adapt to society. You need to adapt to everything and try to use your both hands. For

example, when you are using a computer you need to adapt your right hand to move the mouse

because imagine how hard it would be to be crossing your left hand to move the mouse.’’ I

replied to her, “So you have to get used to everything and accept things how they are?” In an

excited manner she replied, “Basically yes, you have to adapt to the environment just like any

animal into a new place. It has to adapt in order to survive. The only thing that I can’t really

adapt to is to putting the strings on my guitar. I know how to play it with my right hand but when

I put the strings on them I find it very complicated. I get confused and put the strings on the

wrong place.’’ That was the end of the interview and I thanked her for letting me to interview

her. I said, “Bye” and left.

Why are there left handed people? It is a very interesting question to ask to yourself. Well

according to the scientific researcher Llaurens Violaine people are left handed because the

person has suffered different types of pathology’s (Llaurens). Another reason why people are left

handed is because of their ancestor’s traits (Llaurens). This means that genes are passed

generationally and it can result in a person being born as a left handed person. Personally I think

that being a left handed person is very unique because it’s a trait that few people have. In reality,

according to an article named Lucky Lefty there are only ten percent left handed people in the

world (Lucky Lefty). Yes ten percent of the world is actually a great number, but ninety percent

is even more. How unique is it to be in the ten percent of lefties in the world? I think that is very

cool.

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It is well known that in the past people that were left handed were considered diabolical.

People said that they were witches or had a pact with the devil and they killed left handed

people; they were discriminated. People would not accept a left handed person to be part of the

world. I think that even in religion they discriminate left handed people because when you give

the blessing during church you use your right hand to make the cross. Even the priest when he

tells the word of God during the mass raises his right hand. Imagine the impact that even in

church they use their right hand. So are the myths true? I consider them to be false, in the

modern world it is best known that being a left handed person has to do with genes and traits, not

the devil!

There is something to learn from here. There are people that are left handed and as

society has been evolving they have been accepting them. Back in the past people judged lefties

and killed them just for having that trait. It is very difficult to adapt when you are a left handed

person. When I immersed myself into the left handed subculture I found out the struggles. You

struggle a lot because this world is designed for right handed people only, but as my friend

Zulema said you have to adapt to the environment just like animals have to in a new place. If you

don’t adapt you will not survive in the environment. This is why I say too many things are on the

right.

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Works Cited

"How Many People Are Left-handed?" LuckyLefty. Web. 4 Nov. 2015.

Llaurens, Violaine, Michel Raymond, and Charlotte Faurie. "Why are some people left-handed?

An evolutionary perspective." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B:

Biological Sciences 364.1519 (2009): 881-894. Web. 4 Nov. 2015.

Lopez, Zulema. Personal Interview. 31 October 2015.