“It’s a gift.”
That’s the response I give now, but when I was younger, I didn’t see it that way. At all.
In case you don’t know, I’m a left-handed writer. I use that term instead of just saying left-handed because the only thing I do left-handed is write. I do everything else right-handed. No, I am not ambidextrous, which is the ability to use both hands equally well. (Ed. note: Using different hands for different tasks is known as cross-dominance or mixed-handedness.) I don’t fit the qualification because I can’t write with both hands with the same level of skill.
But the use of both hands is not the gift to which I was referring.
It all began when I learned how to write. All the desks in the class were designed for right-handers. They had a slat on the right side. This was for the right arm to be rested on while somebody was writing. Being left-handed, I had nowhere to lay my left arm as I wrote.
Needless to say, writing was very uncomfortable for me since I couldn’t get my wrist or arm in a comfortable position. Also, placing the paper at the angle the teacher had instructed didn’t help either. The slant was for right-handers. So I did what I had to do so I could write comfortably: I leaned up, rested my left arm on the desk top and turned the paper sideways. At that angle, I was literally writing upside down backwards.
The teacher would change my paper around and I would turn it back to the way that felt comfortable for me. Then she called my mom about it. I am going to give kudos to my mom here. She never forced me to do as the teacher said since she knew I was just trying to write the best I could. When I first started to color, she watched me pick up crayons with my left hand. One of my relatives told my mother to stick things into my right hand. My mom refused and said I was to do what felt comfortable for me.
Upside down backwards became my “normal" way to write. I guess the kids in my class were used to me writing that way because nobody ever said anything to me. Then I started middle school in the seventh grade. Oh my. It was like moths to a flame. Everybody flocked around my desk.
“Look at how she is writing!”
“I’ve never seen that before!”
“How do you do that?”
I’m sure there were many other kids out there who would’ve loved all that attention. Not me. I was horrified. I felt like the attraction at a circus side show. I think the old term was freak show. Somebody actually suggested I charge a fee when others gawked at my handwriting. Too bad I didn’t; I would have had more money for college.
I reacted the only way I felt comfortable with: I changed the angle of my paper. Instead of being upside down backwards, it was just sideways backwards. Believe it or not, I didn’t get as many comments that way. And that was the way I wanted it.
I was relieved for a few years. One day I was at work when somebody made a comment about me writing sideways backwards.
To which I replied, “You think that’s something, watch this!” I politely turned my paper completely upside down and began to write. Everybody around me gasped. You would think it was the parting of the Red Sea.
This time, their reaction didn’t bother me at all; in fact, I rather enjoyed it. You see, I had matured and was more comfortable with being myself.
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10 (KJV)
My being left handed was not by accident in that it was not a random occurrence of my genes. The fact that I write upside backwards wasn’t by accident either. He uses both to enable me by setting me apart. That frees me up so that I may do His good works.
In fact, each one of us is a unique work of art that was handcrafted by our Creator, God. What did He specially create for you? Accept it and use it.
Nowadays, I volunteer to write in front of others. “Hey anybody want to watch me write upside down backwards? Free of charge.”