It's funny how living in this world of global communications can make one feel sad about the death of someone you have never met. I admired Steve Irwin, "The Crocodile Hunter". Irwin had a passion for his calling, did things his own way and was amazingly effective at spreading the word about preserving wildlife and understanding their behavior. He had a way of getting to you with his enthusiastic banter and theatrics. He came across as daring, at least on camera. Sadly, it seems that he let his guard down. That, combined with some very bad luck allowed a Stingray to get him. It seems so terribly unjust. He's wrestled crocs, handled poisonous snakes with no permanent injury and a stingray gets him? Certainly they are dangerous animals, but how many people are killed by stingrays? What were the chances that the barb would hit him right in the heart? Couldn't it have hit his arm or leg? or the shoulder?
On the other hand, he left this world doing what he loved, which is a better fortune than most of us have. I've never been to Australia, but in the back of my mind I knew that if I had gone, I would have gone to his zoo and hoped to see him. No chance of that now, alas. From what I could tell of his on screen persona, he was an original. God broke the mold after He made Steve Irwin, and now he's no more.
Cheers, Steveo. You made a difference and will be missed.
Update: 09-05-2006 12:43CDT:
Mike Boone has a far better entry on his blog about Steve also. Check it out.