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i took the bus the other day and its stop was outside a church with about 50 people in white cycling out. an old woman leaned past me to watch and i absentmindedly asked if she knew what was happening, a wedding? and she explained it had been a funeral she had attended for a 28 year old man who had quite suddenly collapsed and died, total tragedy. after the immediate social faux pas shame lance i asked if she was alright if she knew him what were her plans for the afternoon is she okay. she explained she was a devout catholic and attended funerals she wasnt connected to regularly as a mourner, as her spiritual duty. she got teary as she explained this to me. i said i thought that was incredible of her and relayed the typical useless banal platitudes that say and mean nothing, because i didnt have the language to say what i actually wanted to say about spiritual duty and compulsion and sitting in a dark room. she told me her father died earlier that year. i told her my father died a year ago. we both said "sorry". and we caught our bus and will never see each other again