At the end of the Catholic service, the presider prays over the casket or the repository for cremains: “As we go our separate ways….” I can’t help but think of the double-meaning of the word “separate” – for the departed and us humans, the eternal versus the finite; and the disparate paths the lives of the funeral attendees will take after the completion of the service.

Not having attended that many interments of military veterans, I always get a huge lump in my throat when at their grave site a military official hands a crisply, folded American flag to grieving loved ones while solemnly stating, “On behalf of a grateful nation …”

In modern times the mournful “on-behalf-of” phrase was intoned 405,000 times during World War II, 36,000 during the Korean “conflict,” 58,000 during the Vietnam War, and fewer but no less painful times during the more current conflicts since the turn of the century.

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On this coming Wednesday, once called Armistice Day to salute the end of World War I but now appropriately called Veterans’ Day, it’s again time to appreciate the efforts of so many who served in the Armed Forces to continue making the experiment of 1776 so successful.