Which sense would you give up? Not too fast now!

If you had to give up a sense -- seeing, hearing, touch, smell, taste -- which would you choose? Most of us would put seeing at the bottom of the list. It's the last sense we want to lose. We want to see the world we encounter, to be able to maneuver through it un-aided. But what would it be like to move through that world seeing everything but not able to hear anything anyone said to us, much less music or just the sounds of traffic and doors being opened or closed or kids laughing in our neighborhood? What if you could see your own babies, your children, but not hear anything they said to you? And what about touch? What if you could never again feel anything through your fingertips: a kitchen utensil, a key to your car, a lover's body? And what if you could never again feel that lover's lips against yours? What if you couldn't tell when a stove was hot? You get the picture. It's not as simple as it seems. Of course we all want to see what's in front of us, if just to avoid being clumsy and tripping over things. But if you chose to keep that sense at the expense of another, you would be giving up lots that you take for granted. Suppose you give up the sense of smell. Okay, so you can't detect your favorite perfume. Big deal. But you also can't appreciate the aroma of spring flowers in bloom or your favorite foods. You eat those enchiladas you always loved, but now they taste like nothing. Wine is wasted on you, except for the effect. This, of course, leaks into the loss of another sense: taste. Smell and taste are so connected that when you lose one, you pretty much lose the other. If you can't smell the spicy shrimp, you also can't taste them. If you can't taste the rare steak with mushroom reduction and shallots, it's because you can't smell it. So if you lose your sense of smell and taste, your dinners out with friends are going to be much less enjoyable. You're going to be eating but faking it. Delicious, you say, but you don't mean it. What you're eating is just stuff, ruffage. You might as well be eating lettuce with no kind of dressing. You don't even know when you're full. And you don't take any of it home in a doggy bag. Why bother? There is no reason you need to think about any of this, as most of us will never lose any of these senses. Especially taste and smell, not to mention touch. But people do lose sight and sound every day. Maybe it's good to think about it ahead of time, in the unlikely event it happens to you or to me. How would we cope? If I couldn't see anything tomorrow, I would be distraught. Panicky. I would be feeling my way around the house, crying out like an abandoned child. But people deal with this affliction all the time. They go blind and then somehow go on. Wow! People also go deaf. I knew a girl who told me that one day she woke up and couldn't hear birds anymore. She could see them on her deck but couldn't hear them. One by one, the sounds in her life disappeared. I've never known anyone who lost the senses of taste or smell or touch but can imagine that it's traumatic, even life-changing. We're resilient as a species, but we're also dependent on ALL our senses, and the loss of any one is a serious blow to our equilibrium, our sense of ourselves in the world, in time and space. How we adjust to such a loss is a matter of individual strength, a test of character for sure. But it can't be fun. The lesson to be learned? Cherish all those senses that you take for granted. Not just sight and hearing but taste and smell and touch. Have you tasted anything good today? Smelled anything that pleased you? Touched someone special? What are you waiting for?