ABSTRACT
When struck with the reality of the sudden death of a loved one, self-absorption is almost inevitable. As we are shaped and limited by the loss, grief seems to envelop us during nearly every waking moment. Reverend Jerry Drino explained to me that in the Navajo tradition, when approaching a grieving person one offers neither condolences nor hopes for things to get better, but says in their native tongue, Something great has happened. Great, not with a valence of something good, but of something large, that will disrupt because of its size. One of the challenges of going out into the secular world while in deep grief is the mismatch between individuals who have had something great disrupt them and systems which are operating in their day-to-day routines.
