LEFT DEVELOPMENT

26th June 2012  "LEFT DEVELOPMENT"

I got to see my grandparents recently.  They're neat, classy old people with a wealth of experiences.  For instance, my grandpa spent a good deal of time working towards a Psyche degree in college.  He was gifted in the field too.  One of the things he knows from his experience is a way to determine hand dominance. 

Try this: Fold your hands, with your fingers laced.  Which hand has the top most finger?  That hand is your dominant hand.  By the way, your thumbs are still not fingers.  What did you get?  My left index finger was on top so I'm supposedly left handed.  So why do I mostly write with my right?

Did I mention this is my grandfather with psychology knowledge that's at least 40 years old?  As I said, my Grandparents are neat & classy people.  I love them to death :-) 

If you're like me and the 'fold-the-hands' test gave you something of a false read, let me reassure you.  As science understands it, hand dominance is genetic.  Left hand dominance is a recessive trait connected to a specific gene that you either have or you don't.  Only an estimated 13% of the world's population is left handed. 

So my Grandfather thinks I'm a lefty but I've grown up writing with my right.  He can't really be right, can he?  Now, to be fair, I have spent most of my life developing ambidexterity because I think it's useful.  But that doesn't make me a lefty.  Never mind the fact that society seems to make lefties develop ambidextrous skills.  And aside from all that, modern science says there has to be an inherited genetic link.  Never mind that this self-same grandfather is a natural lefty who grew up covering his hand dominance . . .

 . . . Nah, I'm right handed.  I write right handed, I just taught myself ambidexterity . . .

 

Whether my grandfather is right or not, he got me thinking.  What if I am left handed & I just never knew it?  But how could I have not figured it out until now?  On the other hand, what if it was a talent I sequestered because this is a right-handed world?  Other questions come to mind like: 

 What other neat talents have I hidden away & concealed from the world? 

It almost feels like the "awakening moment" of a superhero.  The awakening moment, as I call it, is where the superhero finds out who they are, that they have a special power, & that they were made for a great destiny. 

All right, I'm probably taking it a little too far.  It's really just an inconclusive guess at a potentially different hand dominance.  It's not like I found out I can fly or anything!  But, it is totally exciting!  The discovery of unknown potential is intriguing!  What latent talents or abilities have you discovered 'late' in life?  What will you discover yet?  An inquiring writer would like to know . . .