A colleague asked if I was going to blog about the death of Steve Irwin. I told her what he did didn't really involve pets -- kind of the antithesis of pets. But I reconsidered.
What he did do was give people an appreciation of creatures we wouldn't dare get so close to otherwise. He took us inside the world of crocodiles, alligators and all sorts of snakes, and was filming a documentary on Australia's Great Barrier Reef when he was killed by a stingray.
The tough thing will be telling kids about his death. My nephews loved him. They loved imitating the way he'd wrestle crocodiles and how he'd say "Crikey" -- his signature catch phrase -- when he got into a tough spot or even when he was excited. You'll need to remind kids that he died doing what he loved and that he always put safety above everything else.
If the Crocodile Hunter were alive, he'd also remind you that creatures are wild at heart. You can anticipate how they will react -- and Irwin always was sure-footed around his beloved crocs -- but they're also capable of doing the unexpected. That stingray, for whatever reason, felt threatened, and as creatures do, it defended itself.
You also can snuggle up with your kids when the Discovery Channel runs a marathon of his work, and celebrate a life that loved creatures so genuinely and so completely.
3 comments:
"Great Barrier Reefer"?!?!? A little Freudian slip perhaps? :)
Thanks, Anonymous. It says one shouldn't blog when one is tired.
Although Steve Irwin was a great educator and the public enjoyed his television show and zoo. Let us not forget that he also stressed animals out by taking them out of their natural habitat. Roping, duct taping, photographing them and having them on television shows does nothing for the animals. They are scared and stressed and therefore he may have done more harm then agood.
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