To All My Dear Friends and Supporters, Happy New Year!

January, 2009

 A Letter From Roger McGowen

I pray that Love, Peace, and Mercy are your constant companions as you go on your way, wherever this life leads you.    I hope that the happiness and joy and compassion that you have shown me come back to you tenfold, and that the light of a thousand dawns guide your way as you carry out God’s will and administer his love. 

I cannot tell you how many of you have touched me over the years since the book “Messages of Life from Death Row” came out in French and Dutch, and how all of your many letters of love and support gave me the strength that I needed to walk another mile, and to stand a little straighter in the face of such terrible unjust winds.    We know that one grain of sand does not make a beach, nor does one rock make a mountain, but when many grains of sand and rocks come together, they form a foundation that can withstand the forces of nature and the passing of time, and that it is what you have given to me: you came together like grains of sand and rocks and gave me a foundation to stand on to weather the forces of an unjust system, and to plant my feet on the foundation of love and truth. 

We now stand at the door of a new age, we have witnessed the making of history here in America where for the first time an African American has been elected president of one of the richest countries in the world, and still there is much work to be done before we can safely and confidently pass through that door and find ourselves on the threshold of a truly new beginning.  

Our new president has proven on his first week in office that he will not back down from any of his campaign promises, and that he is in fact ready to take this nation and perhaps, by his example, the world to a new height, but he cannot do it alone, he needs all of our help as citizens of the world and not of nations, because the problems that we face are worldwide and must be dealt with accordingly.    We, as citizens of the world, must come together and fight that fight that our leaders sometimes cannot; sometimes we have to throw off the mantle of apathy and pick the sword of engagement and wade into battle to save the rights and freedoms that come from being citizens of the world.     

It is something that we all share and identify with, so let us do our part to civilize a civilized nation that still murders its citizens under the cover of justice, while at the same time claiming to be the greatest nation on earth where justice is only mentioned when it is being subverted. 

I do not have to explain any of these things to you, my friends, because you are well aware of what we face, but I come to you in the name of love, truth, mercy, and peace, encouraging you all to get involved; but do it with love and peace in your heart, and fire in your determination.    We let love be our guide and compassion our aim.    Yet we will be gentle in our approach because we are gentle in our nature and strong in our resolve and, more importantly, we will do what we do with God’s blessings because we know that God is a God of right and justice, and no just fight can be fought without God leading the charge.     

But first I say to you; if the soldiers are not just themselves, neither will their victory. So we must remember to love one another, comfort and hold one another and be willing to wipe the tears from the eyes of our brothers and sisters who have, for whatever reason, lost their faith and doubt that love really does exist.  I now know sometimes it appears that way. I cannot tell you how many times I have asked myself the same question. Just this week I watched two friends of mine being lead down the walkway in the back of the building where death row is housed to the van that was waiting to carry them to the death house where they would be murdered in the name of justice, and I wondered where was love, where was compassion, where indeed was God?!  

And my mind was troubled all that night, and then I received a letter from a friend in France whom I had heard from but once before, and he showed me how important it was to never lose you’re your faith or doubt God’s love for us or the plans he has made for us.    And all    at once I felt all the love and prayers being sent out to God on my behalf by so many of you that I was overwhelmed with a feeling of love and joy so profound that I could never express to you.  

You all have become my family and I love you dearly. It was thanks to your support and love that we were able to hire a very good lawyer who is working diligently on my behalf, attempting to bring light to the darkness that has surrounded me for the last 22 years, so keep praying for us both and keep us in your good thoughts. 

I will ask that you keep looking ahead and always remember to smile.  Love is the soil that nurtures life, and life is the stem that love, truth, peace, freedom, justice and mercy blossoms from, and each petal cannot exist without the whole of the oneness. To love oneself is to love me, and to love me is to love you, and by doing so we love all. 

Have a wonderful year my friends and may the love that God has for you, may you have for others. 

With Love and Friendship. 

Roger