The Foreign Service Journal, November 2005

am at that point in life where I go to more funerals and memorial services than weddings and bar mitzvahs. As I get ready to go to each of these sad events, I feel uneasy. Will I say the right thing to the family? Will it be hard to see the older genera- tion looking frailer? When the gathering is over, I leave grateful that the family want- ed a ceremony, and glad that I had a chance to acknowledge my debt to predecessors. But I also find myself wishing that the Foreign Service showed a greater appreci- ation for the importance of ceremo- ny (an area where our military col- leagues have much to teach us). This past June 18, I attended a memorial service for Ambassador Morris Draper, who was my first boss in the Foreign Service. (For an obituary, see p. 70.) I recall sim- ilar events for Ambassadors Roy Atherton, Peter Constable, David Ransom and Arthur Hummel and Under Secretary Joseph Sisco. Each of those gatherings reinforced my belief that we need to work harder to bring more history, more ceremony and more acknowledge- ment of our debts to mentors and friends into the regular life of the Foreign Service. We are doing better. The Diplomatic Security Color Guard opens important events at the department. State’s senior leader- ship swears in new employees and presides over more meaningful retirement ceremonies. But there is still more to do. • We go to great lengths to make sure that a departing ambassador and an arriving ambassador are not in their country of assignment at the same time. Why? Let’s adopt a version of the military’s change-of-command ceremony. Let the outgoing and incoming chiefs of mission stand together in front of their “troops.” Let them acknowledge the past and look for- ward to the future as the flag passes in front of everyone to recognize the importance of the event. • Let’s take each A-100 class to the Foreign Service N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 49 M ORE C EREMONY , M ORE H ISTORY , M ORE T HANKS T HOSE OF US IN THE F OREIGN S ERVICE NEED TO DO A BETTER JOB OF FORMALLY ACKNOWLEDGING OUR DEBT TO MENTORS AND COLLEAGUES . B Y M ARC G ROSSMAN Marc Grossman, who reached the rank of career ambas- sador, retired from the Foreign Service earlier this year. His last assignment was as under secretary of State for political affairs. He is now vice chairman of The Cohen Group, a consulting firm. I I find myself wishing the Foreign Service had a greater appreciation for the importance of ceremony.