Cohen: How should nations mourn worthy lives lost?

How does a country honour the death of one of its own: a middle-aged troubadour taken by cancer or a young soldier killed in combat? What is the appropriate way for governments to mourn worthy lives?
The leaders of Canada and the United States, in responding to the deaths of Gordon Downie, an acclaimed singer and poet, and La David Johnson, an unknown army sergeant, offer object lessons in public grief, shaded by politics, celebrity and personality.
When Downie, the leader of the Tragically Hip,