Funerals

Firefighters have many rituals, especially at funerals, and the impact and importance to the rest of us is somewhat opaque.  We are left standing outside, faces against the glass, wondering.

But it is how they get through doing what they do.  They face danger, we generally don't and don't need to understand.  Policemen and the military do much the same.  Many of the specific rituals may have come in arbitrarily, but no matter.  These people go into emotional territory that we largely miss, and they seem to know best how this is to be managed.