It is with great pain...

that I am announcing that I have two separate people in my life who are giving me the silent treatment. One has ignored me for 7 days, the other for close to 90. Some days are tolerable like this (as I don't have to face these people minute by minute and be treated to the joys of a visual silent treatment). Some days I let the anger take over. Some days resentment kicks in and I wonder how I'll ever be able to forgive.



Although we all know what those two words together mean, I thought I'd take a second and post a common definition here:

si·lent treat·ment

noun
Definitions:

period of deliberately not communicating: a prolonged spell of refusing to communicate as a way of expressing contempt, anger, disapproval, or some other negative emotion ( informal )

Here's what the silent treatment says to me, personally:

You are not worth my time, my energy, my respect and my love. I have no loyalty to you. I'd prefer not to know you. I shall ignore you like I ignore dirt on the ground. You are not any more important than that dirt. You are not a human being as far as I'm concerned and so I shall not treat you as if you exist with any emotions.


I'm not going to lie to all of you. I have used the silent treatment in the past when communicating my displeasure or anger over something. Sometimes it is intentional, sometimes it is not. I have come to realize that there are very few people in my life that I would want to ignore in such a manner because it is such a cruel way to treat another person. I have learned that if I want to change something or even if I want to communicate, I have to do so with words (even if they are strong at times). To ignore someone is to deny them a place in your life and in your heart. It's really just that simple.