Bern Moses introduces a series on bereavement by challenging casual attitudes toward death and funeral rituals. He recounts entering the pre-need funeral business in 1979 and being overwhelmed in a casket “selection room,” triggering a delayed grief he traces to his father’s death 28 years earlier. The episode frames bereavement as a widespread “bottleneck” that can stall capable people and damage health, motivation, and relationships. Bern outlines losses that create bereavement—death (sequential, premature, and nonsequential), divorce, job or business loss, relocation, and shattered expectations or support systems—arguing people remain stuck because they were never taught how to grieve more quickly.