So I was pondering something as I waited for the bus today and it was the question of whether it is worse to be forgotten or to be ignored.

To be forgotten insinuates that your importance was slight to the person doing the forgetting. That causes a bit of pain to think that you had such a small impact on a person that they could forget about you. Memories are treasured pieces of us and I struggle to remember the names and faces of people that I have known throughout my life so that if I ran into someone, I'd be able to recall them and save us all some pain and embarrassment. It brings a certain warmth to the heart to find someone from times past and they remember you or something about you. I got a series of forwards from an email address I didn't know but a sender name that struck me as familiar. It turned out to be a girl that I had not seen or heard from since we were 5 years old (we had gone to the same daycare for most of the time before reaching kindergarden). We had not forgotten eachother even though it had been 15 years.

Now being ignored on the other hand is a bit more irksome and painful. It relates a certain feeling of willfulness on the part of the other person. Usually we use it to express our displeasure at//dislike of a person. Ignoring is one of the least noticeable but most hurtful punishments used. No one else really notices the act being perpetrated and we only see the slight pained look on a persons face.

Either of these situations are unpleasant and each lead to one of my greater fears.

So what do you think is worse?