A LETTER FROM DEATH ROW
(The Peril of Peer Pressure)
"Do not be deceived: bad companions corrupt good
morals." -- 1 Corinthians 15:33
Dear Friend,
Hi. My name is David Duren. I'd like to share
something of great importance with you, in the hopes that my
regrettable story will aid you in making some of the most
important decisions in your life.
First, let me tell you a little about myself. I'm a
young, white male with an above average I.Q. of 132. I came
from a middle class family. As of 1988, I am currently on
Alabama's death row awaiting execution.
WHERE DO I GO WRONG?
How did this happen? That's an important question
I've asked myself over and over again during the past few years.
While waiting on death row, I have been able to accurately piece
together the answer by reviewing my life.
Why is the answer so important? If you will listen
carefully with an open mind and heart to what I'm about to
share, you can use my mistakes to check your life, and the lives
of those you associate with, to help you correct and/or avoid
making those same mistakes before they get too far out of hand.
If your life is heading in the wrong direction, it can be
corrected before it's too late.
THE PERIL OF PEER PRESSURE
My real problem in growing up was peer pressure. I
was a skinny little weakling, a "straight" kid, living in an
apartment complex where nearly all of the kids lived with single
parents, who had to work and leave their kids unattended. So,
for company and fun, we all "hung out" together. I was not
accepted, at first, by the other kids, because I didn't do the
things they did. I didn't curse, smoke, drink, or smoke pot
(marijuana). But I knew if I wanted to fit in, if I wanted any
"real friends" (Ha!), I had to do all of those things.
So, at age 12, I inhaled my first cigarette, drank
my first beer, smoked my first joint of pot, and began to curse
regularly. My peers said: "Aw, a little pot never hurt anybody!"
and "Pot's not addictive -- it doesn't make you crazy!" I found
out later that the medical experts say differently.
Guess what? It doesn't stop there! I've discovered
by succumbing to peer pressure, I surrounded myself with
so-called friends who drank, smoked, cursed, and did drugs. When
you smoke pot, you've got to get it from someone who sells it.
Frankly, I never met anybody who sold pot only. So, by smoking
pot, you introduce yourself to the whole drug world. Your also
run the same risks by drinking alcohol.
Suddenly, you need something to enhance your
drink. So, you smoke a joint -- that's what I did. Then, you go
buy your joint from your "connection," and he or she says, "Oh
man, I don't have any pot right now, but I've got some bad
Quaaludes, or some crack, or a few Valium, Placidills, or even
acid (L.S.D.)."
THE DEAD END ROAD
So, since you need a "high," you end up buying
whatever is for sale. I should know, because that's the way it
happened to me. Before you know it, you're not just smoking pot
anymore -- you're crushing Quaaludes and mixing that with your
pot.
So, now you're all strung out and need a
pick-me-up. Your friendly drug dealer says, "Hey! I've got some
bad speed, man!" Or, "Hey! This cocaine will really put you in
the clouds!"
Now, you're flirting with death! What happens when
you need a "fix" but can't pay for it? I think we all know the
answer to that one. If you think you can do without it until you
can pay for it, you're only kidding yourself. I was so bad off,
I was doing heroin two or three times a week -- and I didn't
even really like the "high"!
My favorite drug? Acid (L.S.D). I was doing it
(even when I was in the Army) on the average of four or five
times a week. I was doing it the night I murdered a 16 year old
girl (the reason I'm here now).
Why?? All because I succumbed to peer pressure!
That's where it all started. It's been said, "Your friends can
make you or break you." Only later down the road did it lead to
addiction.
LISTEN TO ME!
I'm not writing this just to have something to do!
I could be doing something else more pleasant. Do you think it's
"fun" for me to sit here and tell you that I murdered a 16 year
old girl because I was so strung out on drugs and booze that I
didn't know how to act like a responsible citizen? Do you think
that's fun for me? No, it's humiliating, embarrassing, and
generally downright painful to have to relate to someone.
PLEASE, LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE!
So, I'm not doing this for me -- I'm doing this
for you, because I care! I don't want to see others ruin their
lives and the lives of innocent people as I have. I've traveled
that road you or someone you know may be on right now. That road
is dark. That road is a dead end street. I have reached its end.
Its end is ugly. Its end is pain. Its end is lonely. Its end is
death.
Have you or anyone you know ever witnessed a
prison execution of death in the electric chair. If perhaps you
could find someone who has witnessed an execution by
electrocution, ask him to describe the sight of a man strapped
into the electric chair when 1,600+ volts of electricity pass
through his body -- the straining and creaking of the leather
restraining straps. Ask him to describe the sight and smell of
that man's burning flesh as the electrode gets so hot it sears
like a branding iron branding cattle. Ask him to describe the
sight of the horrifying mask that once was that man's face. It
now looks like a macabre Halloween mask -- eyes bulging, face
grimacing, mouth opened in a silent scream (not because he
wouldn't scream, but because the pain is so intense that he
couldn't scream).
Maybe you realize the perils of peer pressure and
are not into the drug scene. Good! You're on the right track.
Maybe you know someone you care about who is now
walking that dead end street. If so, share this tract with them.
Maybe you're hanging out with the wrong crowd that
is influencing you to go places and do things you know you ought
not do. I have cost an innocent girl her life, and I have
ruined, I'm sorry to say, countless other lives by doing so.
Please, learn from my mistake! I sincerely hope that what I have
shared with you today is responsible someday for saving lives.
I am in the most awfully realistic,
life-threatening situation, and my only hope is the salvation of
our Lord Jesus Christ. While on death row, I ask for your
prayers. Praise God, I have since been baptized into Christ for
the remission of my sins (Galatians 3:26-27), based on my faith
in Him (Mark 16:16), repentance of my past sins (Acts 2:38) and
confession that He is the Son of God (Matthew 16:16-17; Romans
10:9-10). May the love and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ keep
you.
In Christian love,
David Duren
For spiritual help, contact us at
WFrankWalton@juno.com.
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