Left and Right

I recently read a review about pens that are best fitting for left-handed people. It was insightful, to say the least. I had never realized how challenging it is to be left-handed and find a pen that accommodates the way you write.

Comfort was the main aspect the article focused on. Most pens, if not all, are designed and tailored for right-handed people, who make up the vast majority of the Earth’s population. I can almost feel the struggle of searching for the right (or left) one.

Only about 10% of people worldwide are left-handed and around 12% in the Philippines. Between you and me, it’s 50%.

I write with my right hand. My spoon is always placed on the right. I picked a side before I even had the chance to think about it.

So why did I spend almost ten minutes reading and digesting an in-depth analysis of pens most suitable for left-handed users?

For you, of course. Who else would it be for? It’s my desire to understand you, every single little thing. I really do.

When I watch you write at your desk, you almost become this flexible yogi, contorting into an uncomfortable position just to finish a sentence of a 500-word essay that’s due within the class hour.

I always have the same thought: That can’t be good for your wrist… And it frustrates me, in a way so earnest and solemn. The uncomfortable feeling that almost everything is suited for the majority, leaving people with burdens they were never meant to carry in the first place.

Why must we create products that don’t cater to everyone? Why do pens smudge when she uses them? Why do our differences have to cause so much inconvenience?

I condemn everything that puts you in a situation of discomfort and makes simple things like writing, more complicated than they should be.

I have vowed to read more. Not just about things that affect me, but, most importantly, about the ones that affect you. For you are just as deserving of writing comfortably as I am. What’s natural to you should come naturally.

So, write with your left, while I write with my right.