Not The RIGHT Person - Part I

We’re living in a perfectly right world. We are told to do the right thing to make sure that everything is alright. We learn to say the right word to the right person at the right time to make things right. In doing so, we have to make sure that we adhere to the human rights and all other related rights. Singletons will only want to settle down once they met their own Mr. or Mrs. Right.

Being 'right' is acceptable in all cultures especially people in the East. It is synonymous with being 'correct' or 'proper'. Those who wish to act or think differently would be called the 'lefties'. The rebellious one. Not that desirable to have at all. In Malay, 'kanan' does even mean supremacy. Pengurus kanan (senior manager), orang kanan, turutan kekananan etc. If it is all good with being right, how about us who are more inclined towards the left a.k.a. left-handed?

It is estimated that 10% of the world's population are left-handed. 4 out of 7 US last Presidents including President Obama and Clinton have been left-handed. So, we definitely have our own rights too. Wait a sec, isn't ironic that we even refer it as the right of the left-handed people? That's hillarious, don't you think?

August 13th was declared as World Left-Handed Day. Despite of being left-handed all my life, I just learn about the existence of such day recently from a friend’s tweet. I quickly Google-d about it and found out that this day is about spreading the awareness on being left-handed. In conjunction with the special day, I wish to share my experience being on the left side of this righty-dominant world. For those who think that being left-handed is just about writing and handling tools and equipment with the left hand, I hope this entry will give some insight on the challenges, stigma and social faux pas that we, the lefties face in everyday life.

As a young child, I didn’t really notice that I was different from the other kids. Perhaps that was because my Mom is also left-handed. But my experience in primary school was terrible as the usage of the right/left hands is more prominent. Some teachers, especially the religious teachers would made a big deal upon noticing that his/her students used their left-hand to write. I still remember one of my religious teachers once said this hurtful remark, “Eii, dia tulis guna tangan untuk cebok!” Some would say, “Belajarlah menulis guna tangan kanan. Kena paksakan. Banyakkan berlatih.” There was this one time when I was in Standard 4 or 5, a senior teacher asked a question to the class. I got too excited to answer it and spontaneously raised my left hand. Instead of hearing my answer and tegur me politely (as teachers supposed to do), this particular teacher scolded me by saying, “Hei, angkat tangan kananlah!” in front of the whole class! I still remember the humiliation and the devastation until today.

I'm fully aware that in Islam, it is sunat that we do/start everything from the right. Even in wudhu’ for example, we should cleanse the right parts first than the left. The same goes as in our culture. It is considered impolite to receive/take/give things from/to other people using the left hand. But other than that, I think that it's perfectly alright to be a lefty. God creates us like this and there most be a reason for our existence, don't you think? So why certain people keep on giving discouraging remarks those who are left-handed? At one point of my life, I even think that it was a sin that I was born left-handed!

But it wasn't all bad being a lefty. I have some light moments too. Remember the sewing instructions for the Living Skills subject? It was simple for most students as what we need to do is to follow the very detail instruction like - start from right to left, pull the thread here, and there. But it was definitely not as simple for a lefty like me! I managed to learn how to do simple technique like - jelujur, kia, lilit ubi by just changing the direction from right to left. But one it came to more complicated techniques, it got so confusing. So I went to my teacher and asked for her help. After all she was the expert right? She was a righty, but she was kind enough to teach me personally by reversing the order. But guess what, she got confused! And after a few tries, she gave up and told me, "Awak tak payahlah jahit yang tu, buat pening je!

End of part I...to be continued (I hope!)