CLEOEJACKSONIII.COM
  • My Home Page
  • My Life and Ministry
  • My Ongoing Thoughts
  • My Favorite Bible Verses
  • My Favorite Stories
  • My Favorite Jokes
  • My Favorite Quotations
  • My Favorite Web Links
  • My Contact Info
"Helping Others Communicate"

SOME HANDY ADVICE

9/2/2021

 
A recent headline caught my attention.  It read:  “Are Left-Handed People Smarter than Right-Handed People? Here's What Researchers Say.”  In the article, written by Ann W. Schmidt and published on www.FoxNews.com, was timed to reflect the celebration of “International Left Handers Day”, celebrated each year on August 13th.

In it, Schmidt raised the age-old question:  “Are left-handed people smarter, or even more creative, than right-handed people?”  Apparently, the answer to this burning question is hotly debated.  It seems that left-handed people make up about 10% of the population.  Scientists’ best guess is that being left-handed is influenced by genetics, environment, random chance, and/or a combination of these three factors.

Either way, history records a long list of famous left-handed people, including Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin and Ronald Reagan.  And for this reason, it might be easy to assume that left-handed people are perhaps smarter than right handed people.

Not so fast.  Now, certain studies appear to have found otherwise.   For instance, a 2017 study and meta-analyses conducted by researchers at the University of Athens in Greece found what they assert was a "negligible" difference between the intelligence of left-handed and right-handed people.

In the study, researchers analyzed 36 studies measuring the IQ scores of more than 66,000 individuals. The meta-analyses actually found that right-handed people had slightly higher IQ scores than left-handed people.  Moreover, the report said that when the largest study was excluded, the researchers found “no difference between the two groups”.

Add to this the fact that a 2019 survey found that despite the fact that left-handed people think they are more creative, they actually did not spend "significantly more time on artistic pursuits" than right-handed people.  This particular survey questioned more than 20,000 participants.  The researchers did acknowledge that creativity is not all that easy a quality to measure in individuals.

The article was of particular interest to me because, even though I myself am right-handed, my father was left-handed.  My youngest son is ambidextrous, in that he writes right-handed, but plays golf and fields a baseball left-handed.  And it now appears that more than one of my seven small grandsons is very likely proving to be left-handed.

Researchers have long asserted that right-handed people utilize more of the left side of their brain while left-handed people utilize more of the right.*  Hence, the well-worn quip that only left-handed people are in their right minds!

Given all of this, I still do not know whether I am actually smarter or dumber than my father, my son, and/or several of my grandsons.  I could easily claim as much; but they could just as equally claim otherwise.
 
So maybe what really matters is not so much whether or not each of us has a particular hemisphere of his or her mind that is dominant.  Instead, maybe what really matters is that each and every one of us was created in the image of God and endowed by Him as our Creator with a unique set of individual characteristics.

If we were born right-handed, then God desired of us to be such.  And if we were born left-handed, the He desired us to be such as well.  The important thing is that we each recognize our respective God-given endowments, and put them to use for Him and His kingdom.  Otherwise, irrespective of whether we are right-handed or left-handed, we will prove ourselves to be less intelligent than God intended as we fail to realize our God-given potential.  And clearly, anyone who does such is not in his or her right mind!
 
So, here’s some handy advice:  recognize exactly who you are in Christ Jesus!  This involves acknowledging that God created you in His image, and in the process, endowed you with a uniquely chosen set of characteristics, skills, talents, and gifts.  He did this solely for His purposes and for His glory.  And you will best glorify Him when you put these to work for His purposes and His glory!
​ 
I assure you…  Doing so makes you a very handy person in God’s eyes!


SOURCES:

NEWS ARTICLE: 

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/international-left-handers-day-smarter.

SEE ALSO: 

https://www.healthline.com/health/are-left-handed-people-smarter#hand-preference;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Lefthanders_Day;

https://www.lefthandersday.com/; and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handedness.

*NOTE:  According to an article titled “Difference between Left-Handed and Right-Handed People” posted online at https://theydiffer.com/difference-between-left-handed-and-right-handed-people/:

“It is said that since our brain’s hemispheres are crossed (the right side of the brain controls the left part of the body and the left side of the brain controls the right side), lefties are more prone to having the characteristics dictated by the right side of the brain. This means that they should be more creative, more intuitive, better at expressing their feelings, better at visualization and 3D perception. Also, the dominance of the right side of the brain and a prevalence of emotional intellect could make lefties more susceptible to a wider range of emotions, meaning that they live more intensely… 

Right-handed people make up the majority or 90% of the entire human population. They are said to be left-brained, meaning that they will have higher abilities in mathematics, logical thinking and organizing, memorizing, computing and technical information processing, discovering patterns and applying them.” 

Comments are closed.

    Cleo E. Jackson, III

    Occasionally I will add
    a few thoughts to my blog. If you find them inspirational, I will be
    honored.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    Categories

    All