WHY LEFT-HANDERS DIE EARLY - Part 1

PART 1 - STATIONARY WOES

1. Scissors

Scissors, a very common tool, are arranged so that the line being cut along can be seen by a right-handed user, but is obscured to a left-handed user. Furthermore, the handles are often molded in a way that is difficult for a left-hander to hold, and extensive use in such cases can lead to varying levels of discomfort. Most importantly, the scissoring or shearing action - how the blades work together (how they are attached at the pivot) - operates correctly for a right-hander, but a left-hander will tend to force the blades apart rather than shearing the target substance.*

Try using a blunt right-handed scissors with your left hand. IT’S TORTURE. Probably this was the main reason why I couldn’t use right-handed scissors all the way in primary school. It was only after I lost my left-handed scissors I forced myself to learn how to cut using my right-hand. Why? Please refer to my future post on miscellaneous woes.

2. Sharpener

Some of my left-handed friends find using a sharpener difficult. Personally, I have no problems with it but apparently, they say that right-handers turn it clockwise outwards while left-handers have to turn it anticlockwise inwards. This is a lot more awkward and inconvenient.

3. Ruler

For those mass produced rulers, the scale reads from left to right. We lefties tend to block the scale because our left hand goes over the scale whenever we draw lines.

4. SPIRAL BOUND NOTEBOOKS

I need to explain this one. When my right-handed friends and I were discussing this discomfort, they say that the wires also poke into their wrists when they write on the left page. Ah… To examine this, let me take you back to the time when a left-handed kid first learns to write.

When properly taught, left-handed writing is a mirror image to that of the right-hander, making the teaching process confusing for the right-handed teacher of a left-handed student. The result is that many left-handed children learn to write with their hand curled around the pen so that it can meet the paper at the same angle as the right-hander and also to account for the front page of notebooks and binders, as the books open so you write on the right side, which puts the binding on the left side, inhibiting the left hand from writing freely.

When the left hand is held correctly, it is below the writing, as is typical for right-handers.* Unfortunately for most left-handers, we have already the habit of writing OVER the alphabets and so, our left hand tends to ‘rest’ on the wires. Right-handers who have learnt the right way hold their hand below it and hence, avoid most of the wires.

The sad fact?

Once this habit is formed, it is difficult to break. Mine is already 17 years in the making.

5. Rollers and highlighters

Right-handers can do their corrections with a correction tape as they go along the word and highlight the text as they go along the passage. Unfortunately, we lefties either have to bend our wrists at an awkward angle to mirror right-handers OR we correct and highlight the word BACKWARDS. This gets irritating but well, after awhile we tend not to notice because they’re other more pressing woes to face.

This is why I NEVER use correction tapes.

*Source from ‘Lefthanded scissors explained (dailymotion.com video)’ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-handed#cite_note-40

To be continued…

WHY LEFT-HANDERS DIE EARLY - Introduction

‘You’re a left hander??? Cool! Do you know you will die earlier than right handers?!”

I have lost track of how many times I’ve heard this statement. However, I’ve yet to determine which part of ‘dying early’ is cool. In the beginning, I wasn’t so sure of the fact that left handers die early. Logically, why would this be so? Unfortunately, when I did some background check, apparently a study by Coren S, Halpern DF which was published in 1991 claimed that these statistics indicate that left-handed people's lifespans are shorter than those of their right-handed counterparts by as much as 9 years.* Great, absolutely fantastic.

Which brings me to the question, why? If I was going to die early, I’m going to need to know the reason. Well, the author suggested that, ‘This may be the result of left-handed people being more likely to die in accidents as a result of their "affliction", which renders them clumsier and ill-equipped to survive in a right-handed world.’*

Or, in the words of Samantha Madison from the book All American Girl, ‘Left-handed people die sooner than right-handers, due to the fact that the entire world, from automobiles to those desks you take the SATs at to cash machines at the bank, is slanted toward the right-handed. Finally, after a while, we lefties just give up the struggle and croak rather than try one last time to write something in a spiral-bound notebook with all those wires poking into our wrists.’

Thus inspired, I decided to list down some of the grievances left-handers face. Some of them are personal discomforts; some have been contributed by other left-handers (and surprisingly, right-handers as well) while the rest of them were lifted off the net. Without further ado, let the left-handers cry of oppression begin.

P.S. To ease the eye and to appease my readers, I will divide this post into many sub posts AND I will put pictures.

*Source from Coren S, Halpern DF (1991). "Left-handedness: a marker for decreased survival fitness". Psychological Bulletin 109 (1): 90–106. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.109.1.90

To be continued…

Lost Kairos

‘Let me just throw you a word. And you come up with a whole article about it.’

I get really scared when someone tells me this. This explains why I never take the option in English exam which goes, ‘Blue’ or ‘Water’ or ‘Sand’. Or any of the one word questions for the matter. I take too long to think of what to write. But that’s the problem with competitions. They give you one word and you’re supposed to come up with a masterpiece THAT MAKES SENSE.

And the word I got was LOST.

What shall I talk about? Should I talk about lost hope? What about lost love? Or maybe if I was feeling creative, how about the TV series Lost? But then again, lost hope sounds like a movie, lost love sounds like a teenage romance and I’ve never watched a single episode of Lost. So, where does that leave me?

And I got it. I’m going to share with you my Lost Kairos.

Now, you may probably be wondering, what in the world is Kairos? Don’t worry, I have asked many people what they thought about it and some have remarked, ‘Is it a new ice cream brand? A new fast food chain? A new shoe company?’ Well, I’ll put your minds at rest. Kairos is the Greek word for opportunity.

To put it simply, I’m here to tell you about lost opportunities. I’m sure all of us have plenty of them. Whether in our school, in our workplace, in life, we have too many of these missed opportunities. As for me, if I were able to write down all those lost opportunities into a book, I’d have a literary work of a genius published by now. So, what kind of opportunities have we lost really?

We have lost the opportunity to love someone more. We have lost the opportunity to extend a helping hand. We have lost the opportunity to give a piece of meaningful advice. We have lost the opportunity to make the best out of time. And sometimes, when we reflect upon all those lost opportunities, we wish we could erase time. And there goes that wonderful cliché, ‘If only… If only’.

Honestly, I just experienced a missed opportunity. And I’d be lying if I didn’t say ‘If only’. It certainly didn’t help when I recalled what I read in a book about a certain statue…

Picture this with me. You’re in ancient Greece now, in Athens to be precise. There are statues everywhere. Some of them look beautiful and you might be thinking it would suit your furniture at home. Some of them look hideously ugly and you wouldn’t take it with you even if you were paid. But one of them draws your attention. It is called ‘Kairos – Opportunity’. It is a statue of a person who had long, flowing hair in front of its face – but it was completely bald in the back. Weird… But guess what? That statue really exists in Athens.

Alright, let’s return from our mental fieldtrip. You might be wondering, what did that statue signify? Well, opportunity has one characteristic. You can grab it when it’s coming toward you, but you could never get hold of it once it had passed.

Imagine how that makes us feel when we’ve just missed an opportunity in life. There’s no second chance. No turning back. And thinking about all those morbid thoughts, it is easy to see why I felt depressed. But then again, I realised one thing.

A missed opportunity delivers us the opportunity to learn from experience. Let me repeat that again – a missed opportunity delivers us the opportunity to learn from experience.

Now, what do I mean by that? Well, whenever we lose an opportunity to do something, whatever it is, we are presented with to choices. One, we sit and glare at our foolishness and hence, miss even more opportunities. Two, we give ourselves a little shake, pick ourselves up and move on. Sure we make mistakes, but hey, that’s life. That’s why I admire Thomas Edison for saying and I quote, ‘I didn’t fail 1000 times. I just found out 1000 ways that a light bulb does not work!’ He could have said 1000 times before, ‘Shoot! I missed the opportunity to make this thing light up! You know what? That’s it! I’m going back to retire now.’ But he didn’t. He made those ‘missed opportunities’ into an opportunity to persevere.

So, no matter what situation we are in, always remember it’s up to us to see it in whatever light we want. After all, the Chinese character for ‘Crisis’ is danger and opportunity. In everywhere situation when we feel like it’s just too much for us to bear it, we can always succumb to the danger of giving up or seize the opportunity to press on.

I for one refuse to by the kind of person to sit and glare at my problems. I refuse to wallow in self-pity about my missed opportunity. I want to get up and learn from that experience. I’d rather one opportunity and walk away wiser than two opportunities just because I prefer to sulk.

To end, allow me to quote a conversation from Tuesdays with Morrie. Mitch Albom tells his professor Morrie, ‘Why do people always say “Oh, if I were young again.” You never hear people say, “I wish I was sixty five.” Morrie smiles. “You know what that reflects? Unsatisfied lives. Unfulfilled lives. Lives that haven’t found meaning. Because if you’ve found the meaning in your life, you don’t want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more. You can’t wait until sixty-five.”

Exactly. Lost opportunities doesn’t mean the end of the world. Lost opportunities don’t lead to unsatisfied lives, unfulfilled lives, lives that haven’t found meaning. No, lost opportunities only mean the end of the world if we’re unable to pick ourselves up and LEARN.

I’ve recovered from my lost opportunity. Though it still hurts at times, I learn to pick myself up and to move on. And that, my friend is seizing an opportunity in itself. So, what shall it be then? Do you let another opportunity slip past? Or you grab it and better yourself? I’ve made my decision, what about you?

The Ride Home

“Curse this blasted rain.”

Standing in the downpour, stranded in the middle of nowhere with no umbrella, it’s clear why I was in a bad mood. I knew I forgot something as soon as I stepped out of the house. But because I was in a hurry to return my library book (2 weeks overdue, no less) I promptly left my house without my phone, wallet and a coat. All I had was 2 ten dollar bills to pay the fine. Well, I would return soon anyway.

I only have one problem – I have a lousy sense of direction. I can’t direct myself out of a paper bag even if the world’s best GPS system was given to me. So it’s no surprise to find out I was hopelessly lost.

“How in the world could you get lost?” Tze Quan version A was sitting on my right shoulder.

“Because I told her to turn right but noooooo, you said turn left and voila! We’re in this mess!” Tze Quan version B was stamping her foot impatiently on my left shoulder.

“It’s the left turn doofus. Remember? On the way to the library, we passed Burger King. And we turned right. So now, we have to turn left! Simple!”

“It was MACDONALDS!!! Retard!”

“Shut up dur-brain. Burger King.”

“McD”

“Burger King”

“MCDONALDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“BURGER KING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Because they really weren’t helping, I kicked them both out of my head. Tze Quan version C climbs on top of my head and taps it.

“You know, living on the streets isn’t so bad. You can always go checking in dustbins for food. People like to throw stuff away after just one bite anyway.”

Sigh. This really isn’t helping. How in the world am I going to go home? This is really embarrassing.

HONK!!!

Startled from arguing with my alter egos, I look up. The most horrible egg-yolk coloured car parked beside me. A man and a lady were in the front. The lady was driving. She smiled, “Need a lift lassie?”

Shoot. What do I say?

“Say yes dumbo! It’s a miracle, never mind the ugly car” Tze Quan version A.

“No no no! Rape cases! Murder! Don’t do it!!!” Tze Quan version B.

“Well, it beats living on the streets” Tze Quan version C.

There was an awkward pause…

“Gee, thanks!” TZE QUAN says.

When I was in the car, I noticed that the man slumped in the car was sleeping. I admit I was a little peeved when he didn’t even bother to open an eye to see who’s in the car. The car was giving a off a rather weird smell too but he seems oblivious to it. At least he won’t be pulling a fast one considering he’s unconscious.

“So, where’re you headed lassie?” The lady was beautiful, in a hard way. Her bright yellow hair was all set into a permanent bob and it looked glued to her head. I bet if I threw a rock at it, it would bounce off. She was wearing a blinding gold chain and I could see from the edge of my eye she had a gold ring on her finger. Her clothes were tasteful, showcasing her ability to dress and dress well. All in all, she looked like a very powerful woman.

I gave her my address and wished she’d stop calling me lassie. It unnerves me.

“Thank you ma’am for helping me out”.

“Oh it’s a pleasure lassie. It’s not everyday I meet a pretty face in need.”

“Well, I really appreciate it. I’ve no idea what would happen if you didn’t come along!”

“Oh, it’s nothing. My husband and I were just going for a ride anyway. He’s sleeping now though. Had a long night yesterday”.

I see. That would explain his comatose position. Sort of.

“Number 61 right?”

I nod my head and offer a big, big smile. Stepping out of the car, I thanked the lady and made my way back to the house. Breathing a sigh of relief and promising myself never to leave home without my phone again. I was pretty sure that was the last time I would see the lady and I was glad of it. Somehow, she scared me.

Two days later....

I was lazing at home channel surfing. As usual, there was nothing particularly interesting on. Oh well, I might as well give the news a try.

“A very good evening to you all. There has finally been a breakthrough in the serial murder case which has gripped the nation. Adele Renee Smith, prime suspect for the murder of 6 high-profile politicians has been arrested. When she was arrested, she was driving a bright yellow car, slightly resembling an egg-yolk, apparently heading out for a ‘ride’. However, when the boot of her car was opened, the body of one of her victims was found decomposing there. At this point of time, the identity of the body is still unknown but it is suspected to be Mr. Theodore Daniels, Miss Smith’s current lover.

Miss Smith who has been married four times is charged with the murder of her three ex husbands and two of her lovers. Her fourth and most recent husband – Mr. Pierre Troboyzkoy has been reported missing and is largely suspected that Miss Smith has also done away with him.

If the public can provide any information regarding the whereabouts of Mr. Troboyzkoy, please contact your nearest police station. Your cooperation is very much appreciated. Thank you and good night.”

The room turned cold. Thoughts started running through my mind. The picture flashed on the TV screen was identical to the lady who sent me home two days ago. The man slumped in the front seat never stirred even though his wife and I were talking and there was a foul smell in the car. In fact, he was so still I doubt his chest was even moving. The car was an egg-yolk yellow. She said she was heading for a ride.

The room spun and everything went black. My last conscious thought was, “Thank God for keeping me safe”.

2 years later…

“A very good evening to you all. Miss Adele Renee Smith has been charged of 6 first-degree murder charges which carry the death penalty. The police would like to thank the public for helping with the investigation. However, even after 2 years of searching, the body of Mr. Pierre Troboyzkoy has yet to be found.”

I had just returned from the library and was lazing at home channel surfing. I gave the news a try.

Whatever happened to the man in the car remains a mystery till today.

Worldwide Heating a.k.a GLOBAL WARMING

If I can make a dollar for every occasion the issue ‘Global Warming’ pops up, I’d be a billionaire by now – Me.

Yes, by the tender age of seventeen, I’ve listened to countless campaigns about global warming, read countless articles about global warming, written countless essays about global warming and moaned countless times about the monotony of global warming. And as fate would have it, I’m facing the daunting task of writing yet another essay on (yes, you guessed it) GLOBAL WARMING.

Now, for the sake of those who were living under a rock for the past decade, global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-twentieth century and its projected continuation. In English, it means the hot weather everyone’s been experiencing way before we’re born. Global warming can be explained using scientific jargon (and I’ve come across a lot of those when I searched ‘Global Warming’ on Google) but considering this is an English essay, I’ll spare you. We know global warming to be a critical issue the environment is facing. And we want to do something about it – unless you’re a fat lazy slob who thinks global warming is a new brand of ice cream.

Since I have a profound dislike for the bombardment of scientific explanation in English lesson essays, I’ll describe the effects of global warming to you in such a way that you’ll walk away educated and no headaches. I solemnly promise. So here goes.

The most obvious effect of global warming is the rise in temperature. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) during the last century. Climate model projections summarized in the latest IPCC report indicate that global surface temperature will probably rise a further 1.1 to 6.4 °C (2.0 to 11.5 °F) during the twenty-first century. Never mind if those figures boggle you. What is important is that you understand that the earth is getting significantly warmer.

Now, the rise in temperature is largely due to the emission of greenhouse gases. The common misconception is that greenhouse gases are BAD and they were a result of human industrial activities. However, did you know that naturally occurring greenhouse gases have a mean warming effect of about 33 °C, without which Earth would be uninhabitable? Greenhouse gases are NECESSARY for survival or we’d all freeze to death and they have been around since the earth was created. The problem arises when human activity since the industrial revolution has increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane have increased by 36% and 148% respectively since the mid-1700s. And that ladies and gentlemen, is the main cause of global warming.

But I digress. I was talking about the effects of global warming and shall now promptly return on track. Since global warming is attributed to greenhouse gases and greenhouse is attributed to carbon dioxide, the effect of global warming is synonymous with the effect of increased production of carbon dioxide. And while we may talk about all the common effects of global warming such as falling grain yields, climatic changes and whatnots, there is one little know effect. Global warming results in ocean acidification. Yes, I’m totally serious about this. According to Mark Z. Jacobson, author of Journal of Geophysical Journal, increased atmospheric carbon dioxide increases the amount of carbon dioxide dissolved in the oceans. Carbon dioxide dissolved in the ocean reacts with water to form carbonic acid, resulting in ocean acidification. Since organisms and ecosystems are adapted to a narrow range of pH, this raises extinction concerns, that could disrupt food webs and impact human societies that depend on marine ecosystem services.

Well then, moving on to a more popular global warming effect – the rising sea level. With increasing average global temperature, the water in the oceans expands in volume, and additional water enters them which had previously been locked up on land in glaciers, for example, the Greenland and the Antarctic ice sheets. In fact, scientists have estimated that sea levels could rise up to seven meters. What makes the current sea level rise so much more threatening than earlier ones is the worldwide increase of humans and their preferences for living in and developing coastal areas. Nearly 75 percent of Americans, for example, live on or within 50 miles of the coast. Island countries like Japan and Philippians are in danger of being submerged and this would pose environmental refugee problems.

So then, the big question remains. As any Sherlock Holmes worth his buttons will tell you, you need to determine the cause to pursue rectification. We know that global warming is largely due to increased production of greenhouse gases. Therefore, what do we as individuals do about it?

Simple really. Take small steps. Car pool or take public transport to reduce the number of vehicles emitting carbon dioxide. Reduce, reuse and recycle as by recycling half of your household waste, you can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide annually. Buy energy-efficient products. Use less hot water and air-conditioning. Breathe out less to reduce amount of carbon dioxide in to the air.

I’m joking about the last one. But everything else above will help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted and hence, help our earth to recover. I may be one but I am still ONE. And because I am ONE, I will not refuse to do the ONE thing I can do. After all, we have only one earth, ours to make and ours to keep.

Written by Tuen Tze Quan

Copyright reserved

Or at least until my essay reaches my teacher's hands

P.S See Sarah-Ann, you have made me so guilty for neglecting my blog that I post up homework. Hahahahaha! If you don't see read and acknowledge this by Monday, I'm taking this postscript down.

To Help or not to Help?

One day a small opening appeared on a cocoon, a man sat and watched for the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no further. So the man decided to help the butterfly, he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened!

In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening was God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

I'm sure we all go through struggles and trials in life. After all, it's life. Often we wish that life was smoother, the grass was always green and we could sit under the sun drinking milk shakes all day long (without the threat of skin cancer of course). We wish our problems would just disappear because they JUST SEEM TOO TOUGH. We think that we cannot overcome the obstacles and neither do we lift a finger to try. Many times, I caught myself sitting and glaring at my problems instead of getting up and beating the problems to mush. For some reason or another, I didn't know I had the capability to do so.

But I realise that struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly.

I asked for strength and God gave me difficulties to be strong.

I asked for wisdom and God gave me problems to solve.

I asked for prosperity and God gave me brain and brawn to work.

I asked for courage and God gave me danger to overcome.

I asked for love and God gave me troubled people to help.

I asked for favours and God gave me opportunities.

I received nothing I wanted and I received everything I needed.

When it comes to things like Physics and Chemistry, there are some things which can never be done. Just like when a ball is dropped, it will never fly to outer space. Just like when you add metal and acid, you will never get oxygen.

But when it comes to living things, there is no such thing as 'it can never be done'. -Pn. Shanta (my Biology teacher)

I Was So Sure I Won...

Have you ever had those moments where you fought so hard to win something but in the end, you lost so much more than you gained? Those moments where we were so sure we won, so why aren't we feeling as excited as we should? The times we felt satisfied for 2 seconds but dejected the next 2 years?

You, my friends, have experienced a Pyrrhic Victory

Let me take you back in time for a little History lesson (and I solemnly promise that this is actually interesting)

The battle lines were drawn. 40, 000 Greeks vs. 40, 000 Romans. King Pyrrhus had his sights set on Rome, and no one was going to stand in his way. He'd brought cavalry, archers, and even war elephants with him. His track record was nearly flawless. Surely the Roman Empire would fall. But after several days of fierce combat, it still wasn't clear who would win. Both sides suffered major casualties, and it looked like a stalemate.

Then at last the Greeks managed to prevail. Their elephants broke through the enemy line, the Romans were driven back, and Pyrrhus won his battle. Unfortunately, his army was now incredibly weak. He was far from home and couldn't gather reinforcements quickly. The enemy could. When a comrade congratulated him on his win, Pyrrhus responded, "One more such victory and I am lost." He never did conquer Rome.

********************

Sometimes the cost of winning is so great that we lose more than we can gain. I guess one of the main ways this is showcased is in our interpersonal relationships. How many times have we lost friendships just to guard our pride? For the sake of winning an argument, we steamroll pass our friends. Sure, we win the quarrel, at the price of the friendship.

I've had countless encounters such as these. Looking back, I wished I had stopped to think about the long term consequences instead of trying to emerge the 'winner'. Whether I was fighting to dominate, to save face, to retaliate, to boost self-esteem or just for the sake of fighting, I lost more than what it's worth winning. I wished I had the courage to be the bigger person and let it go.

But of course, we have learn from our mistakes (well, we should unless you like seeing history repeat itself). I guess before we rush headlong into a heated argument, we should pause to ask, is this issue worth debating? What do I hope to accomplish by winning anyway? What kind of consequence will this result in our relationship? And the best one, why do I want to win so badly?

I don't want to succumb to pride and be unable to take the high road. I hope and pray I'll never reach the point where I see backing down as a sign of weakness. Because if you think about it, only the strong will dare admit they're wrong.