Crikey

So, I’m watching the tribute/memorial service they had for Steve Irwin last night on Animal Planet. It was held at the big “Crocoseum” at the Australia Zoo. We let the kids stay up late to watch and I can’t believe how moved I was. His little daughter, Bindy got up and read something she wrote and I was really crying. This little girl was so into the animals just like her dad, and I thought “what a legacy to leave here – a child that is so in love with animals and nature and wants to do right by her dad looking down on her.”

When Steve Irwin first came out years ago, I thought he was off his rocker. And annoying as all get out, too. But he started to grow on me, especially after I saw what kind of connection he had with my kids, from so many thousands of miles away. And loud and obnoxious as I may have thought he was at first, his knowledge and fervor for the animal kingdom as a whole just completely won me over.

Here was this guy who was SO passionate about what he did. I’d never seen that before. Sure, he took risks, and yes he had a “strange” way about him, but what truly made it strange? The fact that I'm just not that passionate about what I do and seeing someone so alive and so into his work may be unsettling for me? I think that deep down, I'm saying ‘Why can’t I find something I love just as much and make a go of it?’ And actually make a difference? That really hit home for me last night, watching his legacy unfold in front of all those people in that coliseum. They talked about all the accomplishments he did even off camera to really try to work with conservationists, scientists, researchers and make us realize we need to take care of the earth better.

They had celebrities around the world come on and say what Steve Irwin meant to them, to the world conservation community, etc…but mostly to kids everywhere. I had a conversation with a friend of mine last week where she was asking if anyone else thought the hoopla around his death was a bit much. I told her I didn’t think so, and she might not think so either, if she could have seen the look on my son’s face when I told him Croc Hunter had died. He was in tears. We talked about it for days afterwards – the connection he had to kids was unparalleled. And not on a dumbed-down, Barney the Dinosaur scale. On a “respect nature and love all God’s creatures” kinda scale.

Yes, he took risks. Many would say unnecessary risks. And maybe he bugged you, or you made fun of him, or you just “didn’t get him” but love him or hate him, I think the world would be a much better place if we all had the passion in our lives that Steve Irwin had.