Well, if you haven't already heard, the Crocodile Hunter has died. He was killed by a stingray while filming in a coral reef. You can read the AP story here.
First off, I hope it's not disrespectful to discuss the death of a man on a blog post as if it's water cooler conversation. I definitely feel sorry for his friends and family and I'm only writing about it because it's on my mind right now. Hopefully people are refraining from making the all too easy jokes about the Crocodile Hunter being killed on the job. Although, I doubt it. Now for my thoughts.
I don't presume to know a thing about Steve Irwin other than what I've seen on his shows. So anything I say is based on that limited knowledge. But it seems to me that he would have preferred to go in this way, if a man can prefer to go in any way. It's kind of like in Forrest Gump when Lieutenant Dan wants to die on the battlefield. Or if I were an astronaut, I imagine I would probably want to go while I was on some mission in space. For some reason it seems a noble death. Dying while doing something extremely dangerous, but doing it because you're so passionate about it.
I can't imagine a man like Steve Irwin going slowly in a nursing home while his body just rusts away. At the same time, it seems ironic that the Crocodile Hunter was killed by a stingray. I'm not going to go into it, it just seems ironic.
More than anything, I admire the man for what he did. He was passionate about something and found a way to make a living out of it. He did what he loved and died doing it, which is much more than I can say. So the world says goodbye to a courageous man and I sit in a cube to write about him. Here's to hoping that his life may inspire others to do what they love. And as you discuss this with friends and co-workers, remember to do so with respect.
Animal Planet: The Crocodile Hunter
The Crocodile Hunter.com
3 comments:
Damit Art, that was beautiful. I wish I could have said it as well. Thanks man.
Yes, that was lovely how you refrained from making a comment about it, but I could still feel the "Come on...only 17 people had died from a sting ray before, and only 2 in Australia. Shouldn't he have known how to avoid this massive stinger going into his heart?" tension in it.
From the uninspiring job...the man in Cube F signing off...
I'm glad someone else has a respectful post regarding Steve Irwin. I got your comment on my blog and decided to join the Indianapolis Bloggers ring. I will say the blog ring site itself is an ugly pile of HTML. We could probably do much better by enforcing everyone to add a new blog roll category to their sidebar. We'll see how it goes for a couple of months.
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