Facial Recognition

When I choose which missing persons to put up on my blog here and on my missing persons blog, one of the deciding factors is the availability of good photographs. It’s for a very practical reason. People can recognize a face.

I can recognize faces. I can usually tell if I know someone. My problem is that my brain stops there. “I KNOW that man,” I’ll say to myself. “But from where?” It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen my handyman at my house over the past ten years, if we cross paths at the library, I’ll stare stupidly, squint, bite my lip and rack my brain while he tries to make small talk.

Once I recognized my neighbor at the supermarket. I shouted down the canned goods aisle excitedly, “I KNOW YOU! I KNOW YOU! You live next door to me!” I wasn’t so much pleased to see him as pleased with myself for remembering where I knew him from. Unfortunately, my reaction still stretched the limits of social acceptability.