As we all look for high-risk children who are in danger of getting high such as those who may come from broken families, read this, "These children don't do drugs or skip school. They have loving, involved parents who praise their accomplishments and support them when they are struggling."

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In writing any piece, at times I do not know who will read it or how it will be received.  During these past seven years, I have heard back from my readers and while some have been positive, others were negative.  But, writers forge on shining a light on one issue or another to give their opinion of it.  I will touch upon two responses to a recent column shortly.

 

During these past seven years, I have mostly written of political issues and social issues which were the hot topics in that moment in time as I have done in the present.  There have been times I walked off the road most traveled by other writers and spoke of something so few had.  In the wake of negativity, I have also chosen to write of positive ones in which people were doing something to make our world better.  Those are the ones I cherish most.

 

In writing of the Iraq War as I have been doing for quite sometime now, I have only done so in support of our soldiers. As each piece is written, I try and remind my readers of the lives and promises snuffed out before their time.  It was the other day that I chose to write of ‘Choking Game’ which is played by children as young as nine-years-old and I expressed that I had never heard of this game.  NBC’s Today Show host, Meredith Vieira did a wonderful job at shining the light on this issue and did so with great care.  In those times journalists must rise to the occasion taking into account of the emotions of those they interview. As I watched her, the compassion she showed was quite evident.  Then again, she has always done so and her time on ABC’s The View is proof of that.

 

It was the day after I wrote my piece, I received an email from a mom whose son played this game and it gripped me.  The reason it did, was that her son died playing this game.  To guard her privacy, I will only use her first name and take out the date of her son’s death.  This is when I know that somehow I have made a difference in at least one person’s life.  Below is her letter to me.

 Dear Mary, I want to thank you for your post. My name is Mary. My son Adam died from this wicked game (Date of death). He was just 12 years old. Did you hear the part where Scott said where they learn this from?  He said mostly at school from fellow school children. I know for a fact that children as young as 9 are playing this game, on school premises’. Parents and school districts need to work together to get rid of this behavior. Our world is changing and now the addictions of our world are affecting children younger and younger. Thank you for your time. Mary Adams mom 

When Levi Draher stated the reason for playing this game, he cited that “I did it because I was stressed out and stuff.” So, it ties into Mary’s opinion of how our world is changing and not always to our children’s well being.

 

In my previous piece shining the light on this dangerous and deadly game, I asked, “What exactly is causing these children enough stress that they would even partake in this game?  I think that is the larger question for society to somehow answer.” I feel that we need to start discussing this with our children.  I will not touch upon the stress factors within this piece, but in future ones.  Right now, I choose to focus on this game and I hate even calling it that.

 

In responding back to Mary, I took great care since this issue was all too real for her given the fact her son is no longer with her.  How sad.  In part, I wrote, “words cannot adequately express my sympathies to you, Mary.  I will pray for your son, Adam and you as well.” At times, prayers are the only thing we can do. Having a venue through the Internet is another thing I can do in order to help others understand this game and in memory to Adam.

 

After receiving Mary’s email, I was literally floored when I received an email from the police officer that Meredith Vieira interviewed on The Today Show.  His name is Scott Metheny. Below is his letter to me.

 

Mary,

 

My name is Scott Metheny and I am the officer that was on the Today Show. Actually I am employed by Upper Moreland Township Police, which is a suburb of Philadelphia (I'm not concerned about the misprint on that at all). I am writing to you to tell you that the association that I am part of is Games Adolescents Shouldn't Play (G.A.S.P.) and you can send your readers to our site at www.gaspinfo.com so they can learn even more. We are also a very small association and are struggling to get funding to support our efforts. If your readers would like to help us, they can make a tax-free donation on the site as well. I thank you for your time covering this very important topic. 

Sincerely

Scott Metheny

 

I replied in part, “I am sorry about the misprint, but I lifted that from the TodayShow.com web site.  I will make sure to visit your site and call my reader’s attention to it.  I am very concerned when it comes to the well being of our children.”

 

In visiting the site, Scott Metheny pointed me to and which I hope you all do as well, the floodgates of emotions opened up. I saw the pictures of children whose lives have been snuffed out who had so much promise had they not played this game and lost.  In this particular game the loss is final.  There are no do-overs or re-matches.

 

In giving you the warning signs in the previous piece, in this piece I will relay to all of you what other names are used when a child plays it.  The names are Blackout, Flat liner, Fainting Game, California Choke, Dream Game, Airplaning, Suffocation Roulette, Space Cowboy, Pass-out Game and many more.  We have all heard of children using secret code on their computers when chatting such as POS (parent over shoulder) if their parents were around, it is equally important to know these code words as it relates to this dangerous game.  Lives are dependent upon us in doing so.

 

As we all guard against Internet sexual predators and predators in general, I do feel that we have to be on the guard against our children playing this game.  In fact they state on their outstanding site, “We have not been able to appreciate the number of deaths to this game. It is our intention to use the information we have to educate as many as possible.” Which loans itself to remembering that phrase, “Forewarned is being forearmed” In monitoring our children’s computers, I have come to learn is to be on the lookout for web sites using the names the names listed above to see if they have a particular interest in this game.  If you do see a web site visited by your child using any of these terms, please speak with your child immediately before it’s too late.

 

In touching upon the sex-game erotic asphyxiation in my previous piece which has a sexual component, this ‘Choking Game’ does not.  I was simply amazed as I read one report going onto another just how frightening this game is.  You can see for yourself as you will scour what doctors have written of it.

 

We tend to zero in on how guns are used by children and drugs as well, but as one reads this account coming from one woman, “My nephew died five years ago at age 12 from playing the choking game. He used his plastic-coated bicycle chain lock.” Or in another case in which an ordinary cloth towel hanger was used in a rest room, what can kill our children are often seen by many of us as being harmless.

 

We have often heard of ordinary cleaning products and glue being used by our children in order to get high, so now we must be on the look out for bicycle chains and rope as well.  If our children are seen with blood-shot-eyes it may not be marijuana that is the cause, but them taking part in this ‘Choking Game’.

 

One doctor opined as I went from link to link said, “It seems to take a tragedy to focus people's attention on a particular issue of this nature.” I could not agree more.  Does it have to take a tragedy before we start speaking with our children before they ever attempt to play this game that has deadly consequences?  In many cases, yes it does.

 In scouring this site, I found this article which gives the warning signs if a child is playing this game.  One such warning sign as written by this author is, "The key is recognizing the symptoms of low self-confidence and -esteem." As we all look for high-risk children who are in danger of getting high such as those who may come from broken families, read this, “These children don't do drugs or skip school. They have loving, involved parents who praise their accomplishments and support them when they are struggling.” I am of the opinion if those that are practicing this game come from children and families such as this; something is being missed within society itself.  It can also come about due to peer pressure. This is where I find that communication and awareness of this game is paramount. As I looked upon these pictures and hearing from Mary and police officer Scott Metheny, I felt the need to update my readers calling their attention to it.  Please take a look at those pictures. These children who are long gone do have a message to send to all of you especially if you have children in your life.  Please listen to them. We have often heard that children are our future and as I read Scott Metheny’s plea for donations, then it is up to us to donate what we can on behalf of our children.  While he said it is a tax free donation, let that not be the selling point into protecting our children.  Let our love of children be the reason.  We have heard of the phrase used in Washington, D.C., ‘leave no child behind’ and perhaps it is up to us and not just Washington, to step up to the plate and do so by supporting this effort.  I will reiterate Mary’s and Scott’s message to me when they both said, “I thank you for your time” 

Author’s Note:  As always, please feel free to email me concerning this article by writing me at xmjmac@optonline.net

Authors Bio:
I am a writer who currently writes pieces for my own blog http://www.mary-macelveen.blogspot.com I have been published by Buzzflash.com, TheLiberalPatriot.org and MikeHersh.com. I was a guest on the Jay Diamond Radio Show on WRKO in Boston and have appeared on CNN.  I have done numerous web broadcasts for sites such as RadioLeft.com, TVNewsLies.org and FranklySpeakingRadio.com.

Please take time to visit my Facebook.com page as well as my Twitter page.