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Harry S.
Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama.
Or, if you
prefer a more ancient version: Napoleon Bonaparte, Queen Victoria, Mahatma
Gandhi.
What do all
these have in common and share it with Fredrick the Great? Besides being
statesmen?
I am quite
proud that I found that link all alone, when I looked at a wood engraving of
Adolph Menzel (who in 1840 illustrated the “History of Frederick the Great”
written by the historian Franz Kugler with about 400 wood engravings).
What do
you see?
That the
relationship between father and toddler son seems to be quite OK at that time –
spending ‘quality time’ together?
Well, that
was not what I meant. Please look at the picture very closely.
Yes: Little
Freddy stretches out his left hand to get the ball.
Right away
I pounded my search into the internet (http://www.indiana.edu/~primate/forms/hand.html) – and it is true. Frederick the Great was a
left-hander. The statesmen mentioned above were it too. As Queen Victoria.
Now there
is a lot written about left-handers. Smart things and absolutely balmy things.
I didn’t enrol
our child for the Waldorf Kindergarten when by absolving the required ‘Mother-preparing-courses’
(fathers don’t need courses) and by reading Steiner I found out that even
today they 're-educate' left-handers to write with the right hand (“If the child loves his mother”, they
told me, “it will do that lovingly”),
but, even more bizarre, they see left-handedness as a karmic punishment: “One is re-born as a left-hander because one
has lived a debauched, voluptuous life in former life.”
Oh!
They said
that to me literally in the Hildesheimer Waldorf-Kindergarten – it is possible that
other Waldorf institutions have a more liberal concept, but even now an
Austrian left-hander adviser writes:
“Especially cautious parents should be who
want that their child should visit a Waldorf school. Left-handedness was seen
in original Waldorf pedagogy still as a karmic problem (…) (www.kindaktuell.at)
My father
was a left-hander, whom they „re-educated“. I am ambidextrous (very convenient –
though I am very sorry to say I cannot remember my former life). And our son is
a pure left-hander – never having any problem whatsoever with that.
I don’t
know what it meant for Frederick II.
I hope at court they
knew this quote by John Donne (1572 – 1631):
„Reason is our soul’s left hand, Faith her
right.“
Both are important.
11 comments:
They say true genius is shown by being left-handed!
I am a little bit ambidextrous, write right-handed, but do most other things left-handed, whereas my wife writes left-handed, but does most other things right-handed! Weird eh?
J
Follow me at HEDGELAND TALES
Himself is left-handed but can do some things right-handed when necessary. I am right-handed, but do many, many things left-handed! Odd eh?!
A right-hander here, but I grew up on my father's stories of being 're-educated' by the nuns - that re-education consisting of rapping of the knuckles and strapping down the offending hand. Quite barbaric.
Dear John,
Isn't it interesting to see the different appearances of handed-ness? Researchers are also not unisono.
Dear Nutty Gnome,
that's why I think one should let children find out which hand they want to use (in 100% left-handed people they prefer the left eye/ear too, and spring with the left foot first)
Yes, that was barbaric. The reason, e.g. to write safer with ink, is not one - - my father, 'trained' to write 'right', had a beautiful scripture - but our son also had never a problem with writing with ink - with the left hand.
"Offending hand" - even the term is strange!
My edu-mate (she's a head of school) would say you made a narrow escape on the Waldorf front. Interesting crowd of left-handers. As for the US examples, I'm not so sure I'd say they're all statesmen (but then, you would be diplomatic on that front, wouldn't you?). Fun post.
Dear Susan,
I had to grin more than once reading that... Your edu-friend is right, and so are you :-)
Soooooo, it's not a penchant for cigars...?
I am certainly not an expert but I wonder if it isn't all a case of carving technique.
His father(?)holds his 'chapeau bas' in his left hand, so was he, by any chance, left-handed,too? Or did the artist carve them according to life and the print turned out in mirror-image? It would be interesting to check Frederick's assumed left-handedness in other artefacts. (He was definitely not left-handed when playing his flute.)
That is a very interesting question. If his father was left-handed (or re-educated), he could bequeath that to his offsprings. I tried it out: if I do a woodcut, the left hand will remain the left hand. The person rolling the ball has it in its right hand. Playing the flute might be re-education? The illustration is from 1840, and Adolph Menzel was a painter who was very accurate. I found Frederick's name in many lists about left-handers, but you might be right - I'll be on the look-out for further signs.
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