All living things — including bugs and fish and people — die. It's
difficult, even for grownups, to understand why this must happen. It may be the hardest
thing of all to understand. The best we can do is accept death as a fact of life.
It happens, and we can't do anything to change that.
When — and How — Does It Happen?
Most of the time people enjoy long, long lives. Lots of people live well into their
70s or 80s, and some live even longer. Slowly, though, over the course of many years,
the human body wears out, just like the tires on an old bicycle or the batteries in
your favorite toy. When important parts of the body — like the heart or lungs
or brain — wear out and stop working, the person most likely will die. When
this happens, we say this person died of "old age."
Sometimes younger people die. Sometimes a person gets very sick, and despite all
the hard work of doctors and medicines, nothing can keep this person's body working.
If a very sick person dies, you may hear the adults around you say that person is
better off now and no longer suffering. Still, every day doctors discover more ways
to prevent and treat serious illness, so the chances of a person recovering improve
all the time.
Other times people die suddenly, like in an accident. This may be the hardest kind
of death for families and friends to deal with because it happens so fast. There is
no time for them to get used to the idea of losing someone they love. The important
thing to remember about this kind of death is it's often so sudden that the person
who dies feels little or no pain. We can be relieved about that.
Where Do Dead People Go?
Many people believe that when someone dies only the body dies. It is just as if
a glass bottle full of water broke, and the bottle became useless. The container is
gone, but what's inside — the water — remains. The part of a person that's
left after the body dies is often called the "soul" or "spirit." Some people believe
the soul is the part of a human that loves, feels, and creates; it's the part that
make us who we are.
No one really knows what happens to a person's soul after death. There are many
different beliefs about that, and it's best to talk with your family to find out what
they believe happens after our bodies die. Then you can decide what you believe.