Always Go to the Funeral (2005)

Good short little article and I agree with the message. "Sorry about your loss" is basic but is metered due to respect. I've family members who haven't gone to each others funerals and it's stupid in my opinion.

On a separate note I think the author's bio is a bit pretentious

Interesting how much NPR articles changed in 20 years

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42435972

Here's some better advice: don't "should" all over your self. The kinds of toxic relational advice I see on here might make sense if you have a very certain kind of family but for a lot of us a funeral is just an excuse for folk to play act their version of regret. To thine own self be true, if you don't want to go, don't go, if you do, then do. One size does NOT fit all and truly, "bye bye!" if you don't understand and respect that, you're just not worth the time.