I suffer from a mild form of prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness. For as long as I can remember, I have had trouble consistently recognizing faces. There were times in my career that I would have to take high ranking politicians around a room and introduce them to people I had only met minutes before. In preparing, I would match the name with a shirt or dress. That sufficed. Prosopagnosia can cause a good bit of anxiety when you are meeting a friend at an airport that you haven’t seen for a long time. Often I would stand there with a smile on my face hoping that person will recognize me first. I wonder what all the people think of my friendly smile. This inability to recognize faces spills over into other things as well.
My wife has spent years teaching me the difference between plants and weeds because there are often such similarities that I end up “weed wacking” both the weed and the garden plant. Nobody in our family likes watching movies with me because I can’t recognize the actors from scene to scene. It is said that there is no cure for it, but that people who have prosopagnosia learn “to use “piecemeal” or “feature-by-feature” recognition strategies. This may involve secondary clues such as clothing, gait, hair color, skin color, body shape, and voice.” Voice cues, such as tone, resonance, and rhythm help. Body motion and hand gestures can also give a clue. I find myself watching people a lot to study ways to recognize these patterns. In short, one has to develop a keener sense of discernment to compensate for this shortcoming.
The nation currently has a recognition problem. One has to also develop a keen sense of discernment to compensate for what I would call Political Prosopagnosia—the inability to recognize the true issue in a political situation. Ever notice how something with the right intention, such as equality, gets hijacked by other agendas, then people focus on the agenda rather than the real issue? All of a sudden the issue becomes the agenda of the hijacker and the main point is lost. Happens all the time. Look at the current situation in America. Antifa, Islam, Black Panthers, communists, socialists try to make police brutality the tip of the spear for their agendas. This invites counter agendas from conspiracy theorists, very right-wing groups, people who discredit victims, etc. Political Prosopagnosia has created deep conflict within many a mind.
Very similar to how the radical left took the Russian conspiracy theories and garnered the support of the deep state, socialists, communists, globalists, etc., to remove an elected president. People were blind to the real issue, became offended, took a side and made their judgment, only to find out in the end that their position was based on a lie. Still, many are so committed to believing the lie, they will not change their minds. Discernment is key to compensating for Political Prosopagnosia. It is like the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. Christ tells of good seed sown, but the receivers can’t remain strong to the word, “and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word” or tribulation arises “because of the word, by and by he is offended.” What I’m saying here is don’t be blind to agendas, stick to the word of your calling, discern the truth.
