I sat next to a man on a plane recently and, though neither of us was the type to yak their neighbor’s ear off, we both did so. We started off with the basic plane small talk, but we quickly discovered that we were both interested in what each another had to say and we kept it up until the plane landed.

He told me about his work and family, but what intrigued me the most was what he does in his free time; he is part of what is called the “Funeral Honors Detail” for the military. As a part of that group, he volunteers his time at veteran funerals to be the one who folds the American flag and hands it to the grieving family. He has a military background and he feels that he is “doing his part.” He admitted that at times this act of service is an inconvenience for him, but he does it anyway out of a sense of duty and respect.

Beyond his obvious strength of character, he intrigued me because he was such a deep thinker, but what was even more amazing was that he told me that he had the opportunity to be a fly on the wall of a very telling event, a funeral, actually, a lot of funerals.He told me that each funeral told a story about the person being buried that day and how evident it was when someone was a committed family man or woman by the attitude and the number of people who attended. I asked him what type of person drew the greatest number of people.He replied, “Teachers.” There were hundreds of people in attendance to pay tribute to a well-loved teacher; teachers’ funerals were the largest funerals by a long shot.

This conversation made me think about teaching and teachers. I also admire my newfound friend, The Flag Guy. I am envious of his opportunity to learn so much from his acts of service. I look forward to more conversations with him in the future.

On a side note, he also told me that we are losing the last of our World War II Vets, and that may be something for us all to consider.