Mourning is always a selfish act. It's not a gesture on the part of the dead. Mourning is for the purpose of the living, so that we feel better about those we've lost and about our own mortality. Someday we're gonna join them, be it in an afterlife or in oblivion, and we give others whom we cared for in life as good a sendoff as we can, in hopes that others will do the same for us when our time comes.

A very good quote from ZachsMind on Metafilter today.