Wonder

For some reason, I can’t stop wondering about weird things that other people don’t seem to wonder about.  In my mind, I think it’s that they don’t want to wonder about it and are just as happy to let someone else do the wondering. Which I’m happy to do, though I wonder why.

Today I found myself wondering about the whole left-handed, right-handed thing. I mean, how weird is it that we have two perfectly matched arms, virtually identical - though opposite, but we develop a slightly better relationship with one of them over the other? It’s sort of like the mother bird preferring one hatchling to another, sometimes to the point of shoving the non-preferred one out of the nest.

Some people do use both hands nearly equally, pianists and other musical people … whom I don’t understand because I’m not musical at all. And since I don’t understand musicians at all, well, we’ll move on and ignore them.

But say you took a dozen guys from a high school baseball team and asked them to throw a baseball. They’d throw splitters, and fastballs, corkscrews and sliders, and impress the heck out of you, until you tell them to take off the glove and throw with their opposite arm. Then they’d look like a bunch of women … not women who can throw, mind you, but women who can’t throw, but who otherwise are very attractive and intelligent and probably masters of many tasks I couldn’t handle, so please don’t take offense.

So what is it about lefties, who seem to be more artistic; and righties, who are more analytical. It’s something in the brain, because, as you know, the left side of our brain controls the right side of our bodies, and vice versa, hence, lefties are the only ones in their right minds. But again, why is any of this the case? Aren’t our brains complex enough to allow us to use both arms to the same extent? Or because we only utilize 20% of our brain, is that what stifles our ability to master both arms? Maybe if we found a way to use our entire brain, we could learn to master both arms.

I can understand worship of the Hindu goddess Kali, if for nothing else that she is equally adept using any of her many arms. Imagine having four arms and trying to butter your toast, or choosing which arm to use in a ping pong game. I couldn’t handle it. No matter she’s a goddess.

But all of this wondering is good for me. It gives me something to do when I’m swimming, or trying to fall asleep. And there are so many things to wonder about. Like hair. Because before the invention of scissors and SportClips, how did cavemen keep from tripping over their hair and falling victim to voracious cave weasels?

I wonder.

Norm

www.normcowie.com