Our World

Man with mental illness or a martyr??

I was reading the St. Cloud Times and ran across this article. A man named Malachi Ritscher planned out his death carefully in detail. This man had always been an anti-war protester. On November 3 at 6:30 am. Ritscher set up a video camera, doused himself in gasoline and lit himself on fire. This all occurred downtown Chicago on an off-ramp. In his suicide note it said his flaming body was supposed to be a call to the nation. He said, “If I am required to pay for your barbaric war, I choose not to live in your world.” This suicide went largely unnoticed until a reporter questioned if this man was a martyr or consumed by a mental illness. Ritscher dropped out of high school at 17 and married. Ten years later he got divorced. He was an alcoholic who collected fossils, glass eyes, light bulbs, and snare drums. His family member’s claim he was an intellectually gifted man and believed in his actions however extreme they were. After reading this I just shake my head. I kind of think this man was desperate for attention.

posted by Anonymous @ 11/28/2006 04:42:00 PM