ON BEING A PALL BEARER

Is there anything heavier to bear than the coffin which carries someone you love?  To walk beside the coffin, with one hand on its highly polished mahogany, in front of you, behind you, around you, all those who loved the one whom the coffin enshrouds, and then to help to lift that shiny, tightly fitted container onto the hearse which will transport your once living vibrant friend to his final resting place. . .  What greater burden could their be . . .