Being Left-Handed in a Right-Handed World

My wife and one of my daughters are left-handed, meaning that 25% of my family writes with their left hand.  This is almost double the percentage in the general population, which is around 13%.  If it is true that left-handed people are the only one's in their right minds, then I guess my family has been doubly blessed.  But most of the time my wife does not consider it a blessing to be left-handed in a right-handed world (despite the fact that she can celebrate International Left Handers Day with her left handed friends on August 13,).  While 13% of the population might be left-handed, 99.9% of the world is designed for right-handed people.  I found this out when I hurt by right thumb a few years ago, and again when I broke my right hand while living in Uganda.  Try starting your car with your left hand!  You have to be a contortionist just to reach around the steering wheel! The doctor who stitched up my cut was left-handed but was trying to cut the stitches with right-handed scissors.  It is not easy being left-handed at school either.  How about adapting to a right-handed desk, a right-handed pencil sharpener, and even a right-handed mouse.  Even potato peelers are right handed! (For a humorous look at how left-handed people are discriminated against in our society, click here.)

This explains a bit how missionaries around the world feel when they find themselves thrown headfirst into a new, radically different, and sometimes uninviting culture.  To put it mildly, they feel out of place.  The first months and sometimes even years are spent simply acclimating to the new culture.  Expecting new missionaries to thrive right out of the gate is like expecting an untrained runner to finish the Boston Marathon.  It will take time, training, patience, and endurance to finish the race.  ECM has missionaries serving in Uganda and Ghana, trying to both adapt to the cultures they live in and effectively serve as the hands and feet of Jesus in places where his love is so desperately needed (click here to read more about them!).  Why not pray for them today, and even consider writing them a note of encouragement?   They could probably use it!