Interesting point about the two minutes of mourning silence in the supermarket. As a convinced iconoclast, I understand Crow Sister's reaction, but I would have stood silently for two minutes like everyone else. Not because I fear being stared at, but because I really do believe that acknowledging loss is a healthy thing to do, and someone in that store that day may well have been a genuine mourner.

Two minutes out of my life is not much skin off my nose, and I can always use the time to pray for my own loved ones, here in this existence or moved on to another plane. And if I'm not in a mood to pray, I can at least take the time to calm myself, do the "ground and centre" thing.

The two minutes' silence thing can feel like an empty cliché, but it is one of very few public acts that costs nothing and encourages reflection. And, of course, it's always possible that someone nearby is personally affected by loss and will appreciate the investment of a pittance of your time in the thing that has turned his or her family upside-down.

I work in one of the Canadian Forces' operational headquarters. Whenever one of our people loses his or her life while deployed, a minute of silence is observed formally in all CF establishments. One day I happened to be in the cafeteria when the Tannoy announcement was made and everything stopped. As usual, I closed my eyes and said a few Hail Marys, both for my benefit and for whatever good it might do for the fallen. When the Tannoy crackle announced that 60 seconds had elapsed and I could get on with my life, the guy behind the steam table leaned across and said, "Thank you for your prayers. He was my cousin."