“None of us could speak English”
Portland, Ore. – Murray Kaufman has a fire in his belly. Dressed in gym shorts and tennis shoes, the retired science teacher graciously sat down with us at the Rose Schnitzer Manor in mid-September, but had to run 20 minutes into the conversation to his physical therapy class.
At 88, Murray Kaufman remains an ardent activist. In 2004 he moved to Salem, Oregon, to work for John Kerry’s campaign, and since retiring to the Manor last year has helped round up a group of concerned residents to tackle serious Portland problems, most notably homelessness.
Murray says he loved his work as a high school teacher every day, and we believe him. He speaks of his decades devoted to children with audible gusto, and when he took our business card he was inspired to log onto the Internet for the very first time.
Here’s hoping we see you online, Murray Kaufman.
Posted by Elizabeth Armstrong Moore on Wednesday, September 13th, 2006 | Email This PostThis entry was posted on Wednesday, September 13th, 2006 at 1:30 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
20 Responses to ““None of us could speak English””
Leave a Reply
NOTE: Please submit your comment only once. It will have to be approved by the administrator before it is posted.
September 19th, 2006 at 12:16 pm
My experience as a kid was very similar to Mr. Kaufman’s. I think this is VERY important for both the left handed and right handed worlds to hear.
With the warmest of Left Handed Regards…
Bernard Edwin Sands
President, The Left-Handed Liberation Society
September 22nd, 2006 at 1:02 pm
I heard this and I understand exactly how Mr. Kaufman felt, I was forced to be right handed when I was 5 years old. I am now 26 years old and I recently switched back to being left handed. There was alot of emotional stress and pain attached with it. I never understood why it was so “wrong” to be left handed. It caused me alot of pain through the years that I was forced to be right handed all the while thinking “Why am I not using my left?” I tried to switch back other times but felt it was wrong and feared negative repercussions. So I finally had it and I fought through the pain and the ingrained negative stigmas about left handedness. Though I have only been back at it for a week it feels so natural, I cried and cried because I felt so so happy, like everything fell into place and that I was me again. All these years it had made me miserable I am so glad that I finally listened to myself.
October 17th, 2006 at 10:36 am
I was warmed by Mr. Kaufman’s voice and appreciate his candor. My kindergarten son is left handed, and I cannot believe the endless negative comments he recieves when anyone with “authority” takes notice. “He’s a lefty - how did that happen?” “Oh, a southpaw here, you know what they say about those…”
I don’t know what they say, in fact. But I do know that these innocuous comments can be hurtful to a young child. So, we field these comments with “Southpaw? Sure, they say they’re brilliant and lightening quick!” or anything else that diffuses the negative energy they’ve sent, without even realizing it. Here’s to the lefty’s.
December 11th, 2006 at 9:15 am
I was a child of the ’50s whose teacher would slap my hand with a ruler if I put the pencil in my left hand. This was public school in Missouri 1st thru 3rd grade, this then carried to public schools in California from the middle of 3rd grade thru 5th grade. Teachers would point out how different I was to the class, I then would write at school with my right hand and at home with my left hand.
Now I am working on my PhD at Oklahoma State University and gathering researcher on the effects it has had on our learning styles of those forced to be right handed.
Would you want to take the survey?
Debra Steele
January 9th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
I am doing a research paper on left handedness, and I am a lefty. I have found that even today I am getting the annoyed expressions and impatience on this topic from my majorly right handed class. Nobody wants to see it as a big deal that lefties have been persecuted, shunned, looked down on, and mocked since the beginning of history. I have not noticed an abundance of discrimination towards myself aside from the obvious physical drawbacks, but I have noticed through my research that it is an underadressed problem, and we are a forgotten minority that could use some more understanding. I found this story extremely interesting and very useful. I am grateful that Mr. Kaufman took the time to share his account.
January 12th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Mr. Kaufman is fortunate that he knows that he was born lefthanded. I did not know it for over fifty years until late June of 2004 when I took a learning disabilities therapy called Interactive Metronome to improve my brain timing. The results were logical since I had been born with a broken neck, strapped to a board immobile for six months, and had righthanded parents to copy. I switched. Switching my handedness was also made easier since the IM therapy had reset my brain timing. I was able to write lefthanded in three weeks but I it has taken me over 2-1/2 years to feel confident doing it. I am starting to feel better but my life is already screwed up by the converted lefthandedness. It may be that the converted lefthandedness created over time a type of traumatic brain injury as with stroke victims and accident victims so assuming I can get a proper medical diagnosis it might be helpful to use a brain injury therapy called cognitive rehabilitaion. Now, I am left wondering why all these small hints of distress I showed throughout the decades were never recognized by anyone around me.
February 3rd, 2007 at 3:30 pm
This is what occurred in my infancy; I was born August 1955 in NYC, as a baby, as soon as I started picking things up with my left hand my mother would slap my left hand and force me to use my right hand- her intentions were to have me fit in better with society. I found out about this when I was 19 yrs. old and my mother and I were discussing why I had so many problems with school, following a routine, general problems in relationships with girls etc.. when informed of this I became very angry-in fact I tied my right hand behind my back and tried doing everything left handed, after a couple of weeks there was no significant improvement and, as my general nature is, I gave up–However, during time spent in psychotherapy after my mother’s death, I came to the realization that my mother’s intentions were pure and she was only trying to do what she felt was best for me–unfortunately it does not change the facts — my layman researching has caused me to arrive at some conclusions-I have always felt as if I was “wired” backwards my whole life. I feel that this forced conversion of handedness that took place in such an early part of my life has affected my entire logic system, how I think and act is all backwards–in my formative school years learning how to write, doing artwork, etc…I experienced great difficulty, my handwriting is atrocious, any type of artwork I have ever tried borders on ridiculous and is embarrassing. My decision making ability during my entire life has always led me in the wrong direction, personally and career wise-I have the same problems now at 51, that I did talking to mother as a 19 yr. old–though a fairly intelligent person, I was a high school drop out, never graduated college, drug abuse (have overcome), my professional career is mired as a sales person, selling advertising, which I am not very successful at performing-though there have been signs of brilliance throughout my life and some short term decent achievements, I am generally a failure in the long run-
Through therapy, I have come to some realizations regarding my social relationships and drug usage-
my relationship with women—my 1st cognitive awareness of a woman, as a 3 month old baby, is that I wanted to do something natural (pick something up with my left hand), yet was punished and forced to do it unnaturally (with my right hand) by the most important woman in my life, my mother –I feel the trust factor I have with women was seriously affected and at present, I have never married or had children, nor trusted any woman, unless we are instantly sexually intimate, that of course has led to other interpersonal struggles-
I started experimenting with drugs at a very young age, just smoking pot but it progressed to the point where in my late 30’s I became a “crack
head”–fortunately after getting into legal problems and spending time in jail did I realize that I used drugs because I was unhappy with the way I
see the world, and felt that the drugs helped me see the world in a different way-I stopped because the drugs didn’t change the world, just changed my perception-I have been totally drug free for 11 years now–
some research I’ve done on the web has me convinced that there is a chemical
imbalance in my brain-I truly believe that I was not allowed to evolve as genetically meant to be-
I have found some very interesting information on the web, mostly from Germany and most about children who were forced to use their right hand while being taught to write during their elementary schooling.
here are a few websites I have found that focus on converted left handers:
http://www.linkshaender-beratung.de/english/index.htm
http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/reprint/22/7/2816
http://www.nencki.gov.pl/labs/pslab/sub/Plastic%20changes%20Plastic%20in%20motor%20control%20in%20converted%20left-handers%20.htm
also-
M.K. Holder, Ph.D.
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology
Director
H A N D E D N E S S R E S E A R C H I N S T I T U T E
Indiana University, USA
Ms. Steel, I would really like to take your survey!!
April 9th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
I appreciate that you all feel that being left handed has somehow devastated you…but people break their arms and change their preferred hand all the time without issue. I know a couple, and they’re fine. One of the biggest influences in my life had this happen to him as a teenager.
There is so much victimization in the world today, everyone tries to blame all of their problems on factors beyond their control. 50% of the US population is on antidepressants, or has been! Please, people, for the good of our country, take some responsibility for your own actions. People shouldn’t be oppressed for being left handed, of course, but it’s not a catchall for your problems with women…give me a break.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:31 am
“Jeffrey Says:
I appreciate that you all feel that being left handed has somehow devastated you”
It’s not being left-handed that is devastating. Being left-handed is normal. It is the prejudice and cruelty that can be devastating. (Imagine what we would think of parents and teachers who insisted that a child change his natural skin color in order to “fit in” with the majority.)
To say that people who injure their dominant hand and switch do so “without issue” is incorrect. Most find it very difficult to switch, and some - especially right-handers who have to switch to the left - find it so hard that it makes the rest of their lives very difficult, even painful.
I agree that people need to take responsiblity for their own actions. Whatever we experienced or suffered as children, as adults we need to leave the past behind and make mature decisions about our own lives.
April 18th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Rosemary West says:
\”I agree that people need to take responsiblity for their own actions. Whatever we experienced or suffered as children, as adults we need to leave the past behind and make mature decisions about our own lives.\”
But what if people who are converted lefthanders (and don\’t know it) live with an ongoing handicap, one which pops up continuously and hinders development, mental condition and quality of life. Of course to what degree depends on other life circumstances as well, and the fact if someone was forced to use the non-dominant hand for writing (and other things) or if it happend unintentional.
I assume one who is reading this knows about the scientific research on this subject.
Converted lefthanders can of course become successful (or overcome hurdles like any other person) and live a happy life. However I argue (though it\’s based on my own assumptions) that converted lefthandedness may be an underlying cause in \”diseases\” (like bipolar/manic depression, chronic stress, ADHD etc) or certain personality styles (a guess e.g. President George W. Bush) which is overlooked and has a certain effect on the individual, a community or our society as a whole.
This issue is difficult to handle or to discuss because converted lefthandedness affects the original brain function of a person.
If it is correct that about 50% of the population is actually lefthanded by nature we need to do everything possible to ensure that infants and children get appropriate care and be able to use their dominant hand for writing (and automatically other tasks). If it is unclear which hand is the dominant one before the child starts school some occupational therapy and testing is needed to find it out.
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I am left handed and people always gasp and say I didnt know you were Left-Handed! like I dont know this.
My grandmother had a fit and said that my other needed to make me be right handed or id be picked on in school. Of all the things that Ive ever been picked on for being left handed isnt one of them.
Grandma would take things( blocks, my bottle) fom my left hand and put them in my right hand and id huff and put it back in my right hand,
I tried writing with my right hand but it felt awkward and weird and I was very frusrated until my teacher said oh just try the other hand, that felt normal and I could write. I dont curl my hand around, im the mirror image of a right hander.
People make a big deal of explaining things to me,like im slow or something because Im left hande, Ill say just explain it and ill figure it out.
Im a chef so I use an ambi blade and chef sissors, I fold pastry bags the same way a right hander would.
July 16th, 2007 at 7:57 am
i’m lefthanded (yay) and i’m very happy with it. i was never forced to change which hand i used or bullied for being a leftie. throughout my life, though, my handwriting has been verging on the scruffy. in school the teachers always complained about how my handwriting was so messy, but none of them showed me how to improve it. my writing has improved with age, but mainly because i have learnt through trail and error what sort of pen is best for me.
August 1st, 2007 at 1:45 am
I’m left handed in almost all things. I was lucky, being a child only an old teacher told me to write with the right hand. I was so young, but I didn’t understand why I had to do it with the right, and I asked to her: why? she didn’t had a satisfactory answer, only told: because it’s better. But why? she insisted in the same, so I cheated, wrote (or tried to) a few seconds with my right, to make her shut up and go away, and then I returned to my left. Luckyly she wasn’t one of these cruel teachers who hit children to convert them in something unnatural. She was cheated and left me alone. The rest of teachers luckyly were smart people and knew there wasn’t anything wrong with that. I had no problems with in in all mi life -I’m 32 now-, and I had a few advantages in basketball and kickboxing combats for being left handed.
The only problem I had found in my life was sometimes I had my left hand dirty after writing, but I learned to do it without having to wash my left hand of ink ; )
The other -little- problem was only a few commentaries of people who quicly, after see me writing say: ‘you are left handed!’ (zurdo in spanish, esquerrà in Catalan) as if was something strange. It amuses me, because I never look on which hand is using people to write to, probably I see some left handed people in my life but I don’t take notice ’cause I’m not concerned with this.
I have heard too some people who truly believe that left handers are smarter, more intelligent, better at sports, than left handed, and some other -usually old women from ‘redneck zones’- who believe left handed bring bad luck, and avoid left handers or make the catholic cross sign when they are in front a leftie, as is they were in front of a vampire! haha : D
As we say in Spain, there are some people who exist so there was anything in the world ; )
August 13th, 2007 at 6:27 am
I, too, was a corrected to right-handedness left-handed child, but never really knew how left-handed I was until the computer age! When I had to use a mouse for the first time, I found my hand-eye coordination so lacking that I could not smoothly use a mouse under any circumstances. I was provided with a track-ball and even that did not alleviate the situation. After changing my mouse orientation for a lefthander, I had no further problems. I AM A BORN LEFT-HANDER and to this day I am baffled at the ignorance showed me by (i) my parents, who believed that my left-handedness was a birth defect; (ii) the educated teachers, both Ursuline and Notre Dame nuns and lay teachers who had the audacity to declare my penmanship unworthy when written left-handed, for which I was subsequently punished; and (iii) the nun who (1) broke a finger on my RIGHT hand for “slovenly” penmanship and then (2) at a later time proceeded to break a finger on my LEFT hand after I had written my paper with my left hand. Please understand that my parents still to this day do not know about the fingers being broken, because it is easy to tape two fingers together to let the broken one heal and at the tender age of 9 I was smart enough to do this and neither of my parents noticed anything out of the ordinary. Today, they call this child abuse and the nun would be swiftly removed from the clasroom and prosecuted. What a change from the 1960’s!
September 30th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Fellow Lefties, I salute you!
I am currently a psychology undergraduate student doing a little research for a paper I have to write for my Intergroup Relations class. Ultimately, the task at hand is for me to describe a social identity that I belong to, identify with, and value. Well, my choice of social identity is as a left-handed person!
I am not one of the numerous who experienced forced right-handedness, but I have always taken notice of the right-handed world we live in. I guess maybe this is why I really do value my left-handed social identity; although lacking any specific, logic-based reasoning as to why, us lefties have had to learn to over come some sort of physical obstacle, be it big or small, simply to navigate our day-to-day lives. Ultimately, I think we are the bigger, better people for it!
Debra Steele, if you are still active in this area of research, although I assume you have completed your dissertation work by now, I would love to be a participant, or even to hear how your study went.
January 18th, 2008 at 4:26 am
I am so glad that I found a site that suited to my research paper about left handers
March 11th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
I really admire left-handed people. I’m right handed but something about lefties fascinate me and I kind of want to be a lefty. Thats why I’ve been training myself to use my left hand as well as my right. Once I accomplish this I plan to use my left hand permanently. (i typed this whole thing with my left hand.)
June 11th, 2008 at 6:29 am
I am happy to say I am a lefty. I did have a teacher slap my hand in school, but happily I remained a lefty. I am a music fanatic, I teach piano an most of the music teachers (guitar/piano etc) I know are lefties.
I have been doing my own research over the years, and I have found that lefties appear more emotional, hense in life experiences, they have a higher E.Q. awareness. Also, I work with foster children (I babysit them as a relief to their foster parents and them) I found the left handed children more emotionally devistated by the separation and loss. I theorize that over the years, this aparent emotional highteness leads eventually to higher EQ.
I think lefties (such as beethovan, mozart, ghandi) are more apt to buck the trends, go against the norm, possitive or negative.
Its interesting that for a living I teach piano, am an aromatherapist (smells) all related to areas of the right brain.
Written essays (language connections) have always been a breeze for me. I can write an 8 page essay in a few hours……..(did that last night)…how about you fellow lefties….what’s your occupation?
June 11th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
As a fellow lefty I am proud that every President since Richard Nixon has been a lefty except for the two duds in that group- Jimmy Carter and George W Bush. And both Obama and McCain are lefties.
September 21st, 2008 at 3:53 am
I am also a lefty and nobody ever tried to force to change myself. On the contrary, I always felt happy or proud of being a lefty because it made me feel special, different (in a good sense) specially with my class mates. They couldn’t believe that I was able to do everything with my left hand and they used to treat me like the “skilled” one. When I used to play football with my friends (I was never very good at it, only average) I have to admit that I was quite a good goal scorer because the goal keeper didn’t expect me to kick the ball with my left leg. The little problems came when I started with my cello lessons. The cello (as most of the things in the world) are designed only for right-handed people and I had to learn how to pick the bow with my right hand. Actually, I was very clumsy and it took more than what is estimated to learn how to use properly a bow. That frustrated me a little bit as I couldn’t understand why did I have to do it that way but when I started to learn how to give musical sense with my left hand everything changed. My hand was very skillful when playing a melody. I am proud of being left-handed and I strongly believe that we should be treated equally. Teachers, parents, anyone who tries to change a left-handed into a right-handed is like trying to change that little girl into a boy, or vice-versa. Does it sound more ridiculous like that?