What a Left-Handed Fountain Pen Taught Me

Correcting bias starts with knowledge

I visited Frankfurt for a business trip to Germany.

My family had asked me to bring back some stationery as a souvenir. When it comes to German stationery, LAMY is the first name that comes to mind.

The stationery section of the department store was lined with many LAMY pens. I decided to purchase an affordable fountain pen.

Just like in Japanese stores, there was a corner where you could test the pens. That was when I noticed there were both right-handed and left-handed fountain pens.

As a right-handed person, I tried both. However, to be honest, I didn't really feel any difference.

The fountain pens on the display shelf were locked to prevent theft, so I called a clerk. When I went to pick up the pen I wanted, the clerk asked me this:

"Are you left-handed?"

I replied,

"I am right-handed."

And that was my answer.

The clerk then guided me to the display shelf right next to it. It seems the sales area was divided into right-handed and left-handed sections.

At the time, I just thought there must be some difference between right and left, and didn't think much more about it.

A world invisible to the right-handed

After returning home, I told my family about buying the fountain pen.

It turned out that my family didn't really understand that there was a distinction between right-handed and left-handed pens either.

Certainly, the way of writing differs between right-handed and left-handed people. I understand that.

However, I myself had never thought it necessary to make differences in the structure of the pen itself.

Curious, I looked it up online and found out the reason why left-handed fountain pens exist.

Most people in the world are right-handed. When right-handed people write with a fountain pen, they often write by pulling the nib.

On the other hand, left-handed people often write by pushing the nib against the direction of the writing.

This difference seems to be a major issue with fountain pens.

Fountain pens are basically tools designed to be written with by gliding the nib over the paper. For right-handed people, this is a natural pulling motion, but for left-handed people, it easily becomes a pushing motion.

As a result, the nib can get caught on the paper, or the ink may not flow properly.

Left-handed fountain pens are apparently designed to make it easier to write even with that pushing motion.

Now that it's been pointed out, that is certainly true.

What is taken for granted might be an inconvenience for someone else

We usually write characters from left to right.
Sentences in many languages are also designed to flow from left to right.

For me, being right-handed, that is completely natural.
That is precisely why I never questioned the mechanism itself.

However, that "natural" state might only be natural for right-handed people.

Much of the world is built on the assumption that people are right-handed.
Scissors, desks, ticket gates, tools, stationery.
There must be many things designed for right-handed people that we don't even notice in our daily lives.

I am right-handed.
And this became an opportunity for me to realize once again that most of the world is made for right-handed people.

There was a world there that I hadn't noticed because it was too taken for granted.

Knowledge changes perspectives

What I felt from this experience is that I am living with biases without even knowing it.

When we say bias, it is sometimes perceived as something like malice or prejudice.
However, that is not necessarily the case.

It is simply not knowing.
It is simply not having experienced it.
It is simply that it was not inconvenient for me.

For those reasons, there are worlds that remain invisible.

That is why I think knowledge is necessary first in order to correct biases.

There are fountain pens for left-handed people.
The reason for that is to accommodate the way left-handed people write.

Even with just that bit of knowledge, the scenery you see changes a little.

What was once just a thought of 'Oh, are there right-handed and left-handed versions?' changes into the understanding that 'I see, there were inconveniences I, as a right-handed person, never noticed.'

Knowledge becomes a gateway to changing one's perspective.

Business is also an endeavor to overcome bias.

At the same time, I realized that overcoming such biases is also an important purpose of business.

Many products and services are created unconsciously with the 'majority' in mind.
In a sense, that might be natural.

However, there are people who fall through the cracks of that assumption.

If a right-handed fountain pen is the norm, it is difficult for a left-handed person to use.
Things that are convenient for the majority can sometimes be inconvenient for the minority.

Noticing that, finding ways to adapt, and providing other options.
That is not just kindness; it is a genuine creation of value.

Business is an endeavor to resolve inconveniences.
And to find those inconveniences, one must question what they take for granted.

To do that, one must first know.

If you don't know, you can't notice.
If you can't notice, you can't change.

The left-handed fountain pen I saw at a stationery store in Frankfurt became more than just a small souvenir for me.

It was an event that shook up the assumptions I held within myself just a little bit.