A deadly game

A few days ago, this letter to the editor appeared in the Daily Telegram (keep scrolling to the third letter). Local resident Pat Hartman wrote

There was a report on CBS Early Show about a game the kids are playing called the Choking Game, the Pass-Out Game or the Hanging Game, and kids are dying doing it. They say the possible warning signs are bloodshot eyes, bruises on the child's neck, and behavioral changes, but that often there are no signs. According to CBS, there have been 59 deaths nationwide from this, so far, and some schools are trying to educate the kids and warn them about what they are doing, and may do, to themselves.

In my mind I went back to a very unpleasant memory from April 1993. I was teaching at a Lutheran High School in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. I received a phone call from our vice principal that one of our sophomore students, Chad S., had committed suicide by hanging himself. However, there were signs of struggle at the death scene that indicated that he had tried to extricate himself from his noose. It was also reported that "the choking game" was all the rage among young teens and that perhaps, foolishly and fatally, Chad had attempted to play the game alone. Although it may have provided some comfort to the grieving survivors to know that the act was probably a stupid accident rather than a despairing act of unbelief, it still was a very sad day.

It's a day that I don't want to repeat. So I'm providing you the link to the CBS news story so that you can watch the four minute video for yourself. Scroll to the story and click the video report link and you can watch it in the right panel. I'm also providing you this link to the stop the choking game web site. If you know of anyone who may be involved in this activity, thinking that it's a "safe" way to "get high" without using drugs or alcohol, please forward this information to them and talk about it with them. It might be a matter of life and death.