We can all take a first step in helping us come to terms with bereavement by realising that it can happen at any time.
I was talking to a lady on board ship in the Mediterranean who had taken the cruise to get over the death of her husband, and she confessed that neither she nor her husband had ever thought or talked about death. She was quite at a loss as to how to cope with her sorrow. The schoolchildren's conference at least gave them opportunity to discuss the subject without it becoming an exercise in melancholia. After all, thousands do make preparations for death by taking out insurances and writing wills.