This is in the point of view of a right-handed me.
Most people say that the right hand does all the work. Thus, the left hand is forgotten and left behind. But on the contrary, the left hand does some very important tasks too. And this, I only realized tonight.
As a right-handed person, the right hand is the superstar of my body. I use it to write, brush my hair, lift objects, hold the remote control, punch, and other seemingly more important things in life, while the lowly left hand is, more often than not, always taken for granted.
Tonight, these things I realized:
1. I need my left hand to look normal.
2. When I was younger, I sucked my left thumb to sleep- not my right.
3. I cannot clap with only one hand.
4. I cannot cut or paint my right hand nails without my left hand.
5. I cannot unbutton my pants without my left hand.
6. I cannot play the piano or the violin without my left hand.
And those are just some of the many important things unachievable without my left hand.
Indeed there is a great difference between my left hand and my right hand. However, this difference “awakens us to the value of similarity and diversity.” Here, similarity is in a sense that there are tasks that need both hands to accomplish, like cooking or playing an instrument. In these activities, both hands have of equal importance. On holds in place the chicken to be chopped, while the other gives the force to actually chop the chicken. The right hand plays the melody on the piano, while the left hand gives the bass. Diversity is characterized by actions that require the dominant use of one hand. Perhaps people who aren’t ambidextrous had at one point of another tried writing using their less dominant hand. There is a sense of alienation, and not to mention bad handwriting all over, yet it somehow feels amusing, or fascinating, even.
The left hand here is an example of a little thing that has always been right in front of me (literally!), but somehow was always taken for granted. Many times I worshiped my right hand, while deeming my left useless. However, after tonight, I realized that it just as useful as my right hand because without it, I would not be able to do the things I love most. I would not be me. It is a good thing that it need not be taken away from me (amputated) before I figured out its worth.
Indeed, in becoming more aware of ourselves and our surroundings as part of this reality, we learn to appreciate things, especially the ones we take for granted everyday. Sometimes, these things that are taken for granted turn out to be much more meaningful and significant in life. And this is what DFW challenges us to do in his speech, "This is Water."
ReplyDeleteAs what Kate wrote, we will be missing out on a lot of things in life without this left hand of ours (right hand for the left-handed people). Now, as we have reflected on this matter, I believe that we went from "not knowing that we don't know" to "knowing we don't know how much the left hand means to us" and finally to "knowing that we know our left hand is important."
Marika King
PH 101 A