Thinking about how humans and animals grieve

Mother Orca whale carrying her dead calf, perhaps leading to her own death.

I have long thought that people don’t allow themselves time to grief the losses in life … the little ones and the major ones.  Over and over I have counseled pastors who spend little time grieving their losses or the losses in the church they lead. We all need to spend more time reading and praying the Laments in the Psalter. Emotional health church guru Peter Scazzero says one of the clearest elements of healthy living is when we can embrace grief and loss.

Here’s a fascinating August 2  National Geographic piece about an Orca whale mourning the loss of her calf.

And an August 7th piece in Sojourner’s online Magazine by a Native American writer thinking about the mother whale and dead calf and how the mourning of animals and humans may have similarities.