In this group plan, young people will examine the way our society trivializes death, and they will learn how to cope with its reality.

OVERVIEW

LEADER PREPARATION

• What death experiences have kids that you work with had? Be sensitive to fresh experiences they may still be experiencing.
• Obtain video information for use with your group. Most television programs trivialize death as something that always happens to someone else. Many are based upon murders. Police-oriented programs are often based upon death. Contrast this with a news broadcast of a war, famine, or car wreck. Movies are good if there is enough context surrounding the person who dies and the meaning of their death.
• Videotape (for about 10 minutes) a volunteer adult or student willing to discuss the life and death of someone close to them.
• Visit a funeral home. Find out what a group could see on a scheduled visit. Ask the funeral director to participate in an interview with the kids during that visit.
• Prepare any necessary equipment for use.

GROUP BUILDING

• Play "killer." One secretly designated person in the room winks people "dead" before any "live" person can catch them at it.
• Sing a few songs to break the ice and then bring the group together for discussion.

GROUP PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION

• Show a murder mystery (portion) or "police" show—something that contains a death.
• What makes this situation unreal?
• What is real about it?
• Show a newscast or similar program concerning death.
• Describe the differences between the two shows.
• What does the newscast say about the difference this life made? How is the death significant for family, friends, and others?
• Is death always sad for those who are alive? When is it not?
• Show a movie in which death plays a prominent part in the lives of survivors. Ask the above questions.

WRAP-UP

• We all feel grief when someone close to us dies (anger, depression, denial, bargaining, and acceptance).
• For those of faith, any life, no matter how long it is, is a gift from God.
• Television lures us into thinking that death always happens to someone else. We must be ready to die at any time. Death is a certainty.
• "No one is ready to live until he or she is ready to die."