By Saleh Miri 

We all have five senses right from the time of birth. We discover the world by looking at things, touching them, smelling what is pleasant and avoiding unpleasant smells. We listen to sounds and discover the world in which we start to live. We eat and discover the variety of tastes in our mouth. The more we improve our experiences, the more we understand the world.

However, exceeding the correct levels makes us lose our senses. If we eat too much, we become fat and cannot stop our appetite, gradually losing our capacity to perceive variety in  tastes. When we read too much or watch too much TV or cinema, our sight gets affected and we start needing glasses or require cataract operations. When young drivers start manipulating their car’s exhaust to make more noise, they lose their sense of respect for others who have no other choice than to listen to these sounds. The authorities need to become aware of this and reprimand those who exaggerate. 

When we throw away garbage without respecting the environment and polluting with plastics, we lose our senses. Many countries have established three garbage cans for paper, plastic etc, but not yet in Oman. Touching objects such as plants and natural elements increases our sense of touching and feeling nature in a better way.

Our planet is a gift to humanity and it deserves high respect. Politicians today seem to think of themselves only and more and more conflicts appear every day, from Ukraine to Palestine, Taiwan, African countries etc, and we humans cannot change these conflicts much but we can educate the youth of today to respect our planet and make the world a better place to live. If temperatures continue to raise, we will all disappear. Getting conscious of this possibility might make us change our vision and ambitions.

Saleh Miri is an architect who came to Oman in the early 1980s