A national story can have a clear ending while individual families remain in its aftermath.

National stories have endings because narratives need them. The treaty is signed, the period is closed, the chapter concludes, and the families involved go on living inside the consequences for generations without any corresponding sense of resolution. Public closure and private aftermath run on completely different clocks.

Be careful about telling anyone that something is over because the official ending has passed. Ask what is still being carried. The same applies within families, where an incident can be declared resolved by one person and remain fully live for another.