Today the Wall Street Journal announced what we all knew in our guts to be true: we lefties are really put upon. Here is the comparatively short list of benefits of being left handed, aside from intrinsic awesomeness...
PROS
- Lefties are better at "divergent thinking" -a zany process that generates lots of ways of coming to a solution.
- We aren't not smarter than righties (not much of a pro, but comparing the lists, I'm inclined to reach a bit).
- Turns out, we may not die at a younger age as I've always heard.
- If you're interested in being President of the United States, the numbers are on your side.
And it turns out the list of negatives associated with left-handedness is more...robust. In addition to perpetually smudged handwriting and scissors that never work...
CONS
- Frequently left-handedness is the result of an abnormally stressful pregnancy (but we survived; maybe that's a pro??) where the stress hormone cortisol modified our brains, we are a last-minute change request.
- Lefties earn 10% less than righties. Both my wife and I are lefties; we bravely struggle to retain our dignity despite our social status.
- Lefties have double the risk of schizophrenia than righties. Double!
- In addition to the whole schizophrenia thing, we're also more likely to have ADHD, dyslexia, mood disorders, and language disorders -resulting in a hard time at school (among other places).
But we carry on!
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