Steve Erwin And Life

I was shocked when I heard the news that the Aussie Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin died in an accident. He was killed by, of all things, a stingray that punctured his heart. According to the news, Irwin was one of only three people in Australia ever to die from a stingray attack.

His friend John Stinton, who was with him when he died, said, "one problem Steve had was that he couldn't sit still for five seconds and because the weather was bad today and for the last couple of days, he'd been liked a caged lion because he hadn't really been able to do anything much in the way of filming. So he said, 'Look, I might just go off and shoot some segments,' anything that would keep him moving and his adrenaline going and that's what happened..." It seemed, on the surface, to be these silly character flaws, and not the stingray, that got him in the end. His death is of course a tragedy. He was only 44. He was a happy husband and father of two great kids. He was a great conservationist who, had he lived, could have done so much more for wildlife preservation.

However Scott Adams said, "Steve Irwin's death is a reminder that everybody's life is like a puzzle, and that we are not here to rate others, only to improve ourselves. I was quick to dismiss Irwin as a numbskull nutcase who got what he deserved—until I looked at myself and realized that I am certainly no paragon of wise living. Something tells me that the ebullient, passionate, adventurous-to-the-end Mr. Irwin was too busy living to pass judgment on how others spent their time. That—and not his risk-taking excesses—could be the real lesson of his death—a lesson we all could learn."

What do you think?