Sadly, there’s an ‘R’ we’ve forgotten

IN HIS WORK ‘De Anima’, ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle named the five senses that humans – and even animals – possess. We all know them: sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing. And for thousands of years, we believed the revered philosopher and trusted that five were all the senses we had.

However, upon deeper investigation, it’s been discovered that humans are equipped with a whole arsenal of senses! Are you ready for a sensory overload? Research has revealed that there are nine, 21, or even as many as 33 senses depending on who you speak to!

Some of these ‘newly’ discovered senses are: ‘equilibrioception’, which helps us maintain an upright posture and stable movement; ‘thermoception’ which helps us to detect hot and cold sensations. Add to the list ‘nociception’ – the ability to perceive pain and discomfort, but different to the sense of touch. There’s ‘time perception’ which helps us estimate durations and intervals.

I’m not done yet. I need to mention the sense of ‘sensory integration’, the process whereby the brain combines information from various sensory systems to create a coherent perception of the world. There’s also ‘interoception’ that makes us aware of our body's internal state, including hunger, thirst and the awareness of bodily functions like heartbeat and breathing.

Yes, there are quite a few more, but I’m sure you get the point, that if we just accept things as they’ve been told to us, we can be missing the bigger picture.

This particular point hit home the other day when someone, who looked like he had reached the end of his tether with all the problems, upheavals, crime, bullying and corruption in the country, said to me: “You know how they keep telling us that our schools should focus on the ‘three Rs’?”

I nodded, having heard about ‘Reading, Riting and Rithmetic’ for as long as I can remember. He then added, “Do you know that they should have – a long time ago – added a fourth ‘R’?”

I quickly ran through my database of Rs, as he paused, wondering what he could be driving at. Could it be ‘romance’, ‘raisins’ or ‘restling’? I was wrong on all counts.

“Respect,” he said. “They should have added respect to the development of our children and our nation, long ago,” he said sadly. I heard a bell go off in my head somewhere – suddenly so many things made sense.

For example, recently I saw someone employed at a local pizza restaurant scraping the underside of the restaurant’s tables to remove discarded chewing gum. The tables were just a few steps away from a trash can. If patrons had any respect for the restaurant, the establishment’s staff or themselves, I doubt that they would stick gum under the tables – I doubt they’ll do such a disgusting, repulsive thing at home.

Growing up, I heard that people would jam their wad of gum behind their ear when they ate a meal, only to pop it back into their mouths afterwards. Maybe the pizza restaurant’s customers had oily skin, I mused, and were worried that the gum would slide off.

I am merely speculating of course, because my sense of ‘sensory integration’ is not yet tuned in, seeing as I have just discovered that I’m supposed to have it.

But consider it though … if children learned at an early age to respect others, imagine what a blow would be dealt to what seems like a rising bullying epidemic.

And the very concept of bullying, a glaring sign of disrespect, is everywhere. I have heard stories of powerful, affluent parents who teach their children not to even greet people of a ‘lower economic stature’; as if it’s OK to disrespect a blue-collar worker.

Someone told me of one bigwig who tried to motivate his son to study harder at school by telling the boy, “If you don’t study hard, you are going to work as a security guard.” Of course, there’s nothing really wrong with him saying that; except that I heard that he said it out loud while standing with the boy in the presence of a security guard.

Oh, I know that it’s easy to point out the faults of others, so allow me a minute to share and confess how I learned to respect people and their boundaries a short while ago.

I used to be a text message maniac, making a point of sending out a DAILY message to as many of my contacts as possible in order to motivate, inspire, encourage or sometimes even rebuke them. I even used to send out the occasional joke.

One evening, after knocking off from work, I needed to unwind, so I sent a text to all my contacts. It read: “I am lying here looking at the branches above me dancing in the evening breeze, and beyond them the stars in the clear night sky, when I suddenly realised … someone has stolen the roof off my house!”

I got a few “ha ha” responses, several LOLS, a number of LMAOS, one or two ROFLS … and then one friend responded: “Are you SERIOUS? Sending this SMS at this time of night?!”

I hadn’t realised that it was almost 11pm, and in doing so I had failed to respect the fact that there are people who didn't want to be disturbed for something frivolous.

Since then I have cut back on my text messaging to the point that most times when I find quotes that I find interesting and informative, or pictures I find cute, or jokes that I’d like to share, I post them on my social media wall. I have decided that if my friends are inclined or interested they can check out the status updates in their own time without me forcing it down their throats.

People are busy these days, and they don’t need to be distracted by a constantly beeping smartphone. I am training myself to respect that.

Speaking of respect … I heard a story of two men playing golf one day when, just as the older gent was about to take a swing, a funeral procession appeared on the road next to the course.

He stopped mid-swing, took off his cap, closed his eyes, and bowed his head in respect.

His younger golfing buddy was in awe. “That must be the most touching thing I’ve ever seen. You are a very compassionate and kind man,” he said.

The older man, recovering himself, replied, “Yeah, well we were married 25 years.”