Arlington National Cemetery

I had a burial service today at Arlington National Cemetery. There are power spots in the world, where the very feeling of a place is in someway enhanced, where the energy is palpable. Arlington is such a place. There is a natural reverence for the sacred, for sacrifice, for freedom, and for America that is impossible to miss while there.
It also struck me today during the military honors of the service that what we want more than anything else from our mourning rituals is dignity. Comfort is important to us as well, but it is a much more illusive and personal experience. Dignity, however, is something we can create and control, and it enables us to honor the memory of those we lose even as we grieve, uncomforted.