Senses

A friend of mine recently received surgery on her nose to help her breathe better. The shape wasn't altered at all; it was purely for health. She had been breathing through her mouth for basically her entire life. I saw her this past Tuesday and wow, the stories she would tell. Because she hadn't been able to breathe through her nose, her sense of taste had also been affected. Now, she explains, everything just tastes and smells so different! I was pretty amazed at the impact the surgery had. Breathing through your nose is definitely something we all take for granted. I just tried breathing through only my mouth and it's definitely weird and HARD. My friend talked about eating grilled salmon, spaghetti, chocolate, etc. This got me thinking to other sense we all take for granted.

I saw a girl waiting at the bus stop with me and she was blind. I don't know if she's been blind for her entire life, but I'm assuming so because she definitely looked younger than me. Imagine trying to explain the colour blue to her. When she touches things, she can only imagine what it would look like. Come to think of it, I wonder what images a blind person could imagine. If she were to touch her hands, she knows there are 5 fingers and there are these hard things called nails at the end of each. But essentially, she would not ever really know what her fingers looked like. Now, there is a high possibility she isn't completely blind. Most people aren't. But the few that are, I wonder what images would come up in their minds. I mean, if they had had a glimpse of at least one thing in their life, then other images could be made up from that. But, if all they had been seeing was black (or white; I don't know what 'colour' a completely blind person would experience), how could they imagine anything? Or dream, for that matter. I wonder what they dream...

Basically, I guess we shouldn't take these things for granted. Imagine never being able to see the person you really care about, never being able to see colours, or how pretty you really are. Well, if the whole world wasn't able to see, I guess most of our values would lie elsewhere...