The newest toy rage coming to a city near you carries with it an interesting pedigree. Tamagotchi, "the lovable egg," which has been a sensation in Japan, is now hitting U.S. stores. The egg-shaped mini video game on a chain features a virtual pet. The pet owner is to keep track of the health of his or her virtual pet by monitoring its development. The owner is responsible for feeding, cleaning, and exercising his or her pet by responding to periodic beeps that emit from the game. Depending on the kind of care a pet receives, it can be happy or sad, spoiled or healthy.

The toy, which sells between $15 to $20, has fetched ten times that amount on the Japanese black market. Success is measured by how long the pet survives under the owner's care. The current record is 26 days. And here is the catch: In Japan a neglected pet actually dies. But the creators of the toy felt that the virtual pet's death was too realistic for the American market. In the American version, the neglected virtual pet returns to its home planet. Gene Morra, vice president of marketing and sales for Bandai America, Inc. (the company that also brought us Power Rangers), explains that people in the Asian culture deal more directly with reality, while Americans need their reality softened. (Julie Hinds, "Virtual Menagerie," San Francisco Examiner, Wednesday, April 30, 1997, p A14).

Such sanitization of reality seems strange in a society where violent death is portrayed daily on the local news, where pictures of murder victims dot the landscape of the supermarket tabloids, where suicide is common. Is death something we face head on, or it is something from which we try to escape?

A recent article, "When Workers Grieve: The high cost of losing a parent" (Gary Strauss, USA TODAY, April 29, 1997, p. A1), talks about the problems employers have with baby boomer employees who are dealing with the loss of their parents. In the next ten years, some forty percent of baby boomers who are now forty years old will probably lose one or both of their parents. Experts say that the most common crises faced by baby boomers in their forties and fifties are caring for sick parents and dealing with their parents' death.

Corporations are losing billions of dollars each year due to lost productivity and absenteeism of employees who care for elderly parents . Many corporations must replace employees who quit to care for elderly parents. More than 22 million families provide unpaid care for an older parent or relative. This is up from 7 million in 1987. Many employees are ill-equipped to deal with the death a parent. It may take up to a year before an employee can regain his or her former productivity. For some, it may take two or more years.

As Americans move into the twenty-first century, one of our greatest challenges will be dealing with the loss of loved ones. The church can offer healing and comfort. After all, Christianity has something to say about death, resurrection, eternal life, and heaven. In Jesus, we find one who overcame death in order to offer life to all who dare to believe.

One of the best ministries congregations can offer is helping people develop networks of support for caregivers and for those suffering from grief. Small support groups become vital links for people who feel alone in their grief. Baby boomers will not be alone in this struggle. Surviving spouses and the grandchildren of lost grandparents also need support and care. Churches that prepare people for death by talking about death and by offering the hope that comes from believing in Jesus Christ are equipping people for dealing with the stress of the loss of loved ones.

Instead of sending the American virtual pet off to its home planet, perhaps the creators of Tamagotchi should let the pets die, just as they do in the Japanese version. Maybe a little honest talk about life and death would be good for the American soul. Maybe death is something we all need to talk about if we want to have a healthy approach to life in the future.

-- Craig Kennet Miller (cmiller@gbod.org) is a director of evangelism ministries for the General Board of Discipleship. He specializes in generational studies and in new congregational development.