The Power of One

When I am tempted to think one person can't do much to change the world, I think of the article I read in Yes! magazine (Summer 2015), "One Poem that Saved a Forest." The author  wrote poems at people's requests at a farmers' market in Arcata, Calif., in exchange for a donation.When the senior vice president of a timber harvesting company asked her to write a poem about his recently deceased wife, they began an unlikely friendship that led to the timber baron changing his business practices to preserve the McKay Tract of forest land and turn it into a community forest. Her poem made a difference.
Then I got an e-mail about Richard Glossip, a man on death row scheduled to be executed on September 16 for a murder he did not commit. Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, is convinced of his innocence and asked for people to write letters to the governor and newspapers requesting a stay of execution. There is no physical evidence to prove his guilt, only the testimony of the man who said Gillespie had hired him to kill the owner of a motel where they both worked. Glossip's lawyer appealed his sentence, saying that the lethal injection used to carry out the execution would result in cruel and inhuman punishment, but the Supreme Court ruled that since capital punishment is legal in Oklahoma where the crime was committed, the only available drug midazolam could be used. His lawyer is now trying to overturn the constitutionality of the death penalty. Details of the case are available at sisterhelen.org/richard
It seems like all the legal processes have been tried and failed. But I'm counting on the power of one person fighting for justice to save this man's life. One letter to the governor or to the newspapers in Oklahoma could make a difference. I'm ready to do what I can. Will you join me?


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