According to the context in which the term absence is used, we will find different references.
Withdrawal, separation, lack of something or someone
The most recurrent use of the term absence is given at the request of wanting to refer to the withdrawal or separation of a place by an individual .
The absence of a person in a certain place to which he normally attends or to which he was summoned may be due to a force majeure reason that prevents him from attending, such as suffering from an illness, for example, or failing that, the absence may be due to a deliberate act of the person in question who decides not to attend, to leave the place by his own decision. " The absence of Juan has been felt by the staff, as he was a very, very beloved colleague by all." "The absence of the president in the meeting of presidents was interpreted as a challenge ."
This sense of the term will imply that something or someone is not in the present, in the here and now, while the absence may be physical or symbolic.
It is a concept that is directly associated with the lack of something or someone, for example, the absence of food, in the case of a poor person who, due to his condition and lack of resources, cannot access the purchase of food to overcome it .
On the other hand, the absence of a person can be definitive, when he dies, or, failing that, last for some time if his absenteeism is due to a trip.
Absenteeism from work and school
Meanwhile, absenteeism is called the absence of an individual to the place where he should be present because he had to fulfill an obligation or perform a function.
It can occur in various areas, although work and school are usually the most common.
In any of these cases, absenteeism will be very detrimental to the worker or the student since it would complicate their compliant job performance and learning , respectively.
Time that a distance lasts, lack of something
On the other hand, the word absence is used to designate the time that the aforementioned withdrawal lasts . " During my absence an infinity of news happened, it is incredible ."
Also, absence implies the lack or deprivation of something , for example, " Maria's absence prevents me from removing my suitcase from her house ."
Use in law : legal status attributed to a disappeared person
Likewise, in the law we find a special reference to the term, since in this way the legal condition that the person who is found with an unknown whereabouts will assume will be called , even though the authorities and police and their family are looking for them.
There are people who incredibly remain in this state for years and years, not knowing where they really are, as if the earth had swallowed them.
Children, adolescents, adults, although in recent years the most recurrent absences have been that of children, adolescents and young people.
In the case of young women who disappear from one moment to the next with almost no trace and without having notified their relatives, it is assumed that the mafia or human trafficking are behind their disappearances.
There are organizations nonprofit are devoted to promoting campaigns by various means to determine the whereabouts of these people, one of the most recognized is Missing Children. Whose basic and primary mission is to assist families of lost children to find them.
Medicine: temporary loss of consciousness suffered by a person
And at the request of Medicine, the term absence is used to define that health problem that a person suffers and that is manifested mainly by a temporary loss of consciousness , which prevents the patient from remembering part of his life, his present and also to some close people .
The absence seizure is a brief seizure characterized by a loss of consciousness that lasts approximately 10 to 30 seconds and is usually accompanied by blinking with loss of muscle tone. Those who suffer from it will not fall to the ground or suffer seizures but will directly interrupt the activity they were doing, which will resume after the crisis, without symptoms or memories of it. The cause is considered to be genetic and occurs mainly in children. With proper medical treatment they can be avoided.
On the other hand, it is also common for the elderly who suffer from senile dementia to suffer sporadic absences that make them not know where they are, confuse places and people around them.
And shining by its absence is a very popular expression that is used to refer to someone who was not present where they should be. Of course, it has an ironic intention, that is, to derisively mark that someone should have been in a present place but was not.