You must admit that a state funeral for a president brings together a lot of forces. I guess someone is in charge of the protocol. Imagine deciding who sits where for this gathering how they are all going to arrive and depart. I was glad that President Ford had the major hand in planning the event, asking people to participate a year or so ago and I was pleased with how many hymns that were included in the service. The King of Love My Shepherd Is. For All the Saints. Funny how we all agree that music should play a major role in such an event. The musicians and pallbearers seemed to be from all five branches of the service. I found it significant that the Cathedral Choir had a portion of the music and it was not all left to the military. I thought the treble voices of that choir, children's voices, stole the show. Years from now people will say "You sang for the funeral of a president?" The priests and bishop were not to be outdone in finery by the generals and admirals either. Wasn't it significant that Gerald Ford picked Tom Brokaw to speak. A member of the liberal media. And didn't his eloquence stand out as remarkable. I saw Walter Cronkite on TV yesterday recorded at the New Year's Day celebration of the Vienna Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta. I thought Mehta was vigorous and sharp at 70, and then I realized that Cronkite was 90. Brokaw has become the trusted voice to America that Cronkite once was, in my opinion.

A mixture of Democrats and Republicans, politicians and people, military bands and church choirs, church and state. I wonder how it was viewed by the British, by the French, by the Arabs? What do they think when they see the dignity and strength of such a gathering. I doubt if they realized the significance of the camera catching the Latin phrase e pluribus unum on a flag that carried the great seal of the United States. Out of many, one.