Grief.

Grief. why does such a thing exist? unfortunately i dont have the answer but i would like to bring up this point. how do we know that we can tell if someone is actually grieving or not? are we even in place to judge to should we begin to have the previous question pop into our minds. i went to a funeral since one of the students who attended the elementary school division of my christian high school. he passed away in a terrible car accident and his funeral/viewing was being held the in the sanctuary and the high school was allowed to sit in. i went since my whole class was going and was very solemn through the whole ceremony but wasnt very interested. after the ceremony i was on my out when a complete stranger proceeded to pull me aside and ask if i had any respect. he believed that because i didnt show any emotion i was not being respectful to deceased's family. being 16 and not afraid to stand up for myself, i retorted that i was being respectful by not crying or making any type of big scene, since i did not know the deceased or his family, i felt that if i did those things that i would be mocking them and therefore cause more hurt and pain than there had to be. i bring this up because i was reading "A Grief Observed". this book was written by C.S. Lewis soon after the death of his wife. just reading the first two chapters i already connected with him. you literally feel the grief that he is going through come right through the pages and hit you. so how do we know when someone is actually grieving and when they're not?