All living things - including bugs and fish and people - die. It's difficult, even for grown-ups, 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 he is better off now because he is 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.

There are other times when 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? 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 his 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 when he or she dies. 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.