creativity

In my school days my left-handed friends were hounded by the good sisters of St. Joseph in Elementary School and later bullied by the De La Salle brothers in Middle and High School.

To be left-handed was considered a sign of the devil they argued.

There seemed to be some logic to the punishments. The Latin term “sinistra” (left handed) is where we derive the English word “sinister” and our Western culture is deep with myths, folklore and misunderstandings about ‘the left side’.

Yesterday while listening to the radio I heard a dj announce that August 13 is international left handers day. He then went through a long list of left-handed and famous musicians/guitarists including Paul Mc Cartney, Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman, BB King, Barry Gibb and Paul Simon.

Thankfully times and beliefs have changed. According to www.medicaldaily.com ‘lefties’ seem to have some very distinct advantages – including higher levels in :-

• Creativity
• Imagination
• Holistic Thinking
• Intuition
• Arts (Motor skills)
• Rhythm (Beats)
• Non-verbal expression
• Expressing feelings
• Visualization
• Remember the tune of songs
• Daydreaming

It’s interesting to note how this list leans heavily towards creativity.

August 13 is a good day to promote that particular aspect of CAS with our students, especially the ‘lefties’ in our CAS cohorts.