Attachment is deeper than anything. It is the fiber which binds all forms of love. Our closeness to parents, children, brothers and sisters, husbands, wives, relatives and friends brings about attachment as well as care and concern towards one another.
At the time of a departure, people cannot help worrying about another's welfare. As time goes on, the attachment increases. In the end, it will be like a loop constricting the mind.
When the final moments of life comes, we are bound to be permanently separated from our loved ones. We who are left behind cannot stop being concerned about them, even though their whereabouts are unknown to us.
So questions arise in our mind. 'How are they?' 'Are they happy or unhappy?'
These questions keep us imagining and guessing about all sorts of things. As a result, worry and anxiety increase in our mind, followed by dukkha.
As we cannot find the answer to these inquiries, the only way to deal with them is to try to do everything that is considered best for them. Those correct and incorrect things that had been done later on become like 'doctrines' and beliefs, which are then followed generation after generation." - The Anthology of Dhamma Reflections