Listening to the Funeral at Ft. Hood

I was driving to the post office when I turned on NPR and listened to the funeral at Ft. Hood for the slain soldiers due to a strange and seemingly random act of violence. I haven't turned on the television and seen the images or heard the spin that is probably being made by television reporters, depending on what channel it is broadcasting on. I assume the spin was at a minimum when the actually funeral was going on, but I can imagine it starting up again. What I was struck by the funeral was the sense of pride by the callers on NPR, the people feeling unity with the army and the armed forces, feeling like this tragedy brings them together. We don't hear many good things about the military lately because we are still in unpopular and perhaps unjustified wars.

I was also struck by the formality of the funeral service, how the rituals of the army gave comfort to the families and the other members of the armed forces. Wearing their clean and pressed uniforms, standing tall, these people who faced the possibility and reality of war grieved a senseless act. There is comfort in ritual, I am reminded of--and in this casual day and age, there is so little ritual that is practiced. I certainly have little ritual in my life.

Supposedly, the man who slaughtered these soldiers is waking up from his hospital bed, talking to his lawyers. I can't imagine what that conversation must be; I assume his lawyers are also in the military. He will face a military court-proceeding. I imagine there will have to be even more clinging to decorum and ritual for people to get through that.