LeftRightLeftRightLeft

Sitting at the left hand of God

On Twitter the other day, I came across a thread that generated some reaction. A lady had an encounter with the Nigerian police where she was accosted for handing something to an officer with her left hand. She wrapped up by saying that it was time for Nigeria to have state police.

The first question that came to my mind having sympathized with her was, how does having state police address this issue? She responded that having local enforcement meant that governors could hold erring officers much more accountable as opposed to the larger police force answerable only to federal command.

Unfortunately she has restricted the tweet now, perhaps as a result of the engagements she got.

I reached out to her very late at night to have a discourse with her. The long and short of it was that we disagreed to agree. I found it interesting enough that I decided to centre this entry on that encounter.

The clamour for state police in Nigeria is a very popular one. It ranks well along calls for restructuring as an elixir that addresses Nigeria’s security crisis. I recommend this stellar piece from Stears which looks at the state vs. federal police debate.

In my response to the lady, I told her that the officer who harassed her for using her left hand would do same even with the state police in place. This isn’t an institutional problem I observed, but a societal one powered by the troika of language, culture and religion.

The word ‘left’ comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘lyft’, meaning weak. From language alone, we see an unfavourable slant against left-handed people. Nature itself doesn’t help. For every left-handed person there are nine right-handed people. In China, till recently, left-handed children were forced to switch to their right.

The bible story of Manasseh and Ephraim provides religious insight as well. When a dying Jacob wants to bless his grandsons (Genesis 48: 10-22), we see him make a switch as he places his right hand on the younger Ephraim and the left on the older Manasseh.

Joseph their father objects to this to which Jacob says that the younger will be greater than the elder. To drive home the point, Jacob’s last son is named Benjamin which means ‘the son of my right hand’. Jesus is described as sitting at ‘the right hand of God’.

In the build-up to the 2015 elections, social media users astutely noted that Pastor Adeboye during prayers placed his left hand atop the then incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan, who would later lose out on the presidency.

The Saheeh Muslim tells the tale of a man who ate with his left hand in the presence of the messenger of Allah. The messenger says, “Eat with your right hand.” He replies, “I cannot”.

“May you never be able to,” the messenger retorts, noting that the man refused to use his right hand simply out of arrogance. As the story goes, the man never raised that hand to his mouth again.

As part of potty training, we’re taught from childhood to wipe with our left, never the right. Right is might, left is ass.

I have used these few examples above to show that the origins of the bias against left-handedness are deep-rooted in societal values and norms. I have a few personal anecdotes as well, I'll share one.

Once I was at a bet shop. I had gone about my business and it was time to pay the cashier. I handed him the money with my left hand and he bellowed in Yoruba that I should give him with my right.

As a matter of curiosity I wanted to know what would happen if I refused so I didn’t budge. Upon seeing that my head was made of coconut, he muttered a few curses under his breath before begrudgingly snatching the cash from my hand.

I eventually lost the bet but I won what some might call a ‘moral victory’.

The International Lefthanders Day is celebrated annually on 13 August with the aim of raising awareness on the challenges faced by left-handed people in a predominantly right-handed world. Cue poor designs such as in the making of scissors for example, which do not take into account left-handed users.

This piece from Time gives a list of the top 10 lefties in history. There are some notable names there that make for good perusal.

We probably won’t be able to correct all of the negative perceptions on sinistrality, at least not in my lifetime. But it’s one of those biases I really hope we can do away with. I’m counting on the sorosoke generation to continue the fight on that front.

Just in case you were wondering, I'm right-handed.

That will be all from me now. Till next time, remain on top of the world!