09.05.06
Steve Irwin you will be missed
By now, most have heard of the passing of Steve Irwin at the age of 44. Best known by the moniker ‘The Crocodile Hunter’; Irwin was not just a lover of snakes and reptiles. He was a lover of nature and all of wildlife’s inhabitants. From the jungle birds to the desert snakes and, alas, into the seas; Irwin got up close and personal with all that he saw and took all willing pasengers on the ride known, simply, as his life.
What Irwin did was bring the animal world to us all in vivid detail. Irwin gave us the outdoors in all of its glory, in all of its beauty, and all of its danger. He lived his work. He was a walking testimony to the idea that one could love their job, and more than that, get others excited about it as well. He was more than a lover of his craft; he was a missionary of it. He taught, he learned, and he breathed, until his last breath, the natural world around him. All, who were willing to watch, stood witness to a man in love with his calling. A man living his ‘dream’.
In the end, Steve Irwin was more than just a guy wrestling crocodiles and snakes for television audiences. He was a zoologist, conservationist, husband, and father. He bought tracks of land in several countries in order to help preserve wildlife habitats from destruction by man. His Australian Zoo was an oasis for endangered crocodiles, reptiles, and other non-endangerd animals. The money from his popular show served to aid him in his quest to bring more funds to his conservation and educational efforts, not just for animals and their habitats; but for aboriginal peoples and their historic lands as well. In all, Steve Irwin was a man that lived his life to the fullest and his honest and uncompromising spirit will be missed.
As his wife and children remain with us, continuing his legacy, I will remember him as a man of life. A liver of moments and pioneer in a field that, until his arrival, was suffering from the lack of someone with his passion. And I hope there will come a day when his children will carry the torch. Until then, I will show my children the Crocodile Hunter and let them know…….. as sure as the leaves will fall in autumn, death will come. But it is not our deaths that define us; it is how we live our lives. Don’t waste your leaves.