Hail To the Lefties!

Even though Phil Mickelson was really never in contention at the PGA event this weekend, I would like to be the first to wish him well. He, like several people I know, is left-handed, and on Monday, August 13th, we celebrate International Left-Handers Day...or at least I will. This is a minimally-known holiday that began 30 years ago...though I doubt that Hallmark has caught up yet. My oldest son Ryun is left-handed, and one of his younger brothers bats and hits a golf ball left-handed so it's in the family. My guess is that years ago elementary teachers"changed" all lefties so we wouldn't keep smearing the ink on our papers when we were learning cursive (though "cursing" was more like it in my case). Knowing the value of being ambidextrous when one is, say, using a scissors or trying to get a drink at a water fountain ("bubbler" for those of you in Wisconsin), we encouraged our kids to use whatever hand was convenient. Somne will say this confuses kids; some will say this causes coordination issues; but I say, our kids had enough trouble just growing up without having to worry about handedness.
True, the French word for uncouth "gauche" is strictly interprested as "left," and the Latin word "sinister" actually means "left-hand side," but we've got to overcome these narrow parameters and accept differences like this. That's why I say we should call every southpaw we know tomorrow and wish them a happy day. Phil is first on my list since I know he's probably bummed about not playing as well as he'd have liked to this week. Oprah, Paul McCartney and Bill Gates are on my calling list for tomorrow as well. Bart Simpson is also a lefty, but he's been too busy with all the hoopla surrounding his movie to take my calls.
Beethoven, daVinci, Einstein and Ben Franklin are all dead as well as Helen Keller and Babe Ruth. In their honor, though, I will a) watch a movie about a St. Bernard b) review the Catholic Church's stance on Dan Brown's book c) have an onion bagel (after driving by the store a couple of times...minimum) d)change my penny jar for a bill with Franklin on it e) give all annoying drivers a silent reproach using sign language and f) eat a candy bar. That should fill my day.
Now it's your turn...let's pump up all the left-handers out there tomorrow!