Seventeen year old Matthew James had recently signed to play football at Notre Dame next year. He and 40 of his teammates/classmates went to Florida for Spring Break. By 6 p.m. he was "drunk and belligerent." By 6:45 he was dead. He fell from a 5th floor balcony while fooling around with his friends.
He wasn't drinking and driving. He was being a teenager and he complicated it by being drunk. His family is in mourning, his school is in mourning, and the rest of the country is saddened by this tragedy.
The Chicago Tribune is talking about this.
There are many more risks when teenagers drink than we can imagine. It's not enough to warn kids not to drink and drive, or make sure that you take the keys at a party. Twelve teens per day die of alcohol related causes. Girls and boys are sexually vulnerable when they've been drinking.
Many think that teen drinking is a rite of passage, and we can't do anything to stop it.
I'm curious what you think. Was this preventable? Take a minute to share your thoughts by clicking on the link of this post. Let's get a conversation going.
