"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."

And, this kind of blanket moral imposition, is precisely the kind of thing I object to. Such thinking can become dangeroys even, when extended to it's full logical implications.

Even so, to be specific, when my Mother died on Valentine's day I didn't expect the pub full of lovers that we gathered at, to hold a silent couple of minutes (no skin off their nose?) for her. Big day for us lot, but not to them. My grief is my business, and not to be imposed on others 'living their lives' who didn't know her. I did have a quiet word with the landlord who granted me a sarni (even though it was Valentine's day, so there were no sarni's on), and his kind and QUIET aid at that time, was indeed appreciated by me. That's real and human.