I want to be very clear about what this comic means: You do not need to justify your grief. Person 1: "This is making me unbearably sad... and I don't know why." Person 2: "You lost an important part of your past. Someone who shaped you. Helped you become you." Person 1: "I didn't even know them... what right do I have to feel grief over this? It's not my loss." Person 2: "You don't need a right. If you lost an eye, would you need the right to feel pain?" Person 1: "That's... pretty graphic." Person 2: "You're right. Let me put it this way... I didn't know I COULD grieve, but over a decade of answering emergency calls has shown me how I grieve, even how I AVOID grief, almost every day." Person 2: "I don't KNOW the people that I talk to. They're a part of my life for minutes. But what I do know is my life has been shaped by their lives. And even more so by the tragedies. There is so much grief there. It is real. It is valid." Person 2: "And so is yours." [Person 1 hugs Person 2] Person 2: "Oh we're hugging. Okay. This is happening."