Nature of the Man (R.I.P Steve Irwin)

Investor's Business Daily ^ | 5 September 2006 | Editorial staff

[Kitten Festival]

R.I.P: Steve Irwin's body isn't yet cold and already the Pecksniffs are out, tut-tutting the late crocodile hunter's risky encounters with wild beasts. They miss the point: Irwin's life was about enriching humans.

Irwin, who died over the weekend after a freak attack by a stingray, did not live a riskless life. In fact, for those who've watched his Animal Planet shows, some wonder why a fatal encounter hadn't happened earlier. But it's indisputable that he mastered nature with a rare talent — a talent that took him to the edge of possibility. For the sake of the rest of us, he shared his gift.

Exclaiming "crikey!" Irwin wrassled gators, handled snakes and got close to creatures with sharp teeth, riveting us all with his sunny confidence reminiscent of the pith-helmet British empire era.

He seemed to defy the barrier of television. "When I talk to the camera, mate, it's not like I'm talking to the camera, I'm talking to you because I want to whip you around and plunk you right there with me," he once said.

Maybe that's why the scolds came crawling out of their cubicles, all but saying Irwin had it coming. Irwin's success seemed to have made them sick to the green gills. Now they stand on his grave and claim to have the last word.

Two classes of critics have shown up in Irwin's case, galled by his distinctly Australian enthusiasm and his brawny persona.

Some are safety-firsters who say no one should touch nature because it's just too risky. Others are cognoscente of sorts who say no one should go near nature because all human contact will spoil it.

On Internet sites like Daily Kos, for instance, the local consensus was to condemn Irwin for taking chances, something almost as "bad" as soldiers

[spinestein]

To those who want to associate foolish risk taking with the death of Steve Irwin I say that he died while doing nothing more risky than simple snorkeling. He died in an unlikely accident while encountering a usually harmless animal in what most people would consider a safe and fun swim. If you want to say that risk taking contributed to his death then I say you are condemning the real meaningful experiences of life outdoors, close to nature that many people eagerly participate in, such as climbing, hiking, biking and even swimming in real water with fish in it.

I feel sorry for those who willingly isolate themselves from the outdoors because they're afraid of it. Too many people I know are terrified whenever a bee flies near and panic if one lands on their shirt, and the suggestion that they might climb a few feet up a tree and pluck a piece of fruit off of it is horrifying to them. I feel sorry for those who think they're being safe by not exposing themselves to the hazards of nature yet don't seem to realize that they will die anyway, no matter how hard they try not to, and that a death from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease caused by too sedentary a life is not a better death.

Steve may have been only forty-four at his death but he lived a VERY rich, full and meaningful life, and there are many wise people who respect him for how he lived it.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

Bear man in Alaska and Steven Erwin are two entirely different things and can't be compared.

Steve respected the hell out what a croc and these animals could do. He saved literally thousands of animals that would of been killed for one reason or another. Setup livable sanctuaries for many of these species. Brought people close to nature and educated them about it. He was especially good at educating children.

When he was in those pens at his zoo and standing next to the water with a dead chicken in his hand tempting the croc to jump out of the water, he was letting the crocs continue to hunt the way they do in the wild to get that food, instead of just throwing the food in the water.
He respected and cared about these creatures enough to not only house and feed them, but keep them thinking they were in the wild as much as possible so they had a reason to live.

The Bear man in Alaska was a complete moron and by pitching a tent in the middle of a hungry brown bear sanctuary and trying to live amongst them, its no shock what happend to him.

Steve didn't go live in a croc cage to try to get to know them better.

[Frwy]

They truly are out in force. Almost enjoying this sick sport of who can say the same things in a more clever manner. Jealousy is such an evil emotion.

[pissant]

He popularized handling wild animals as par for the course. He annoyed the hell out of me for harrassing the animals, like the idiot kayakers and motorboats that show up every time an orca pod shows up in the puget sound.

Give me Nat. Geo and it's distance filming, not some camera junkie wanting to hug anancondas.

[Rca2000]

That is NOT true!!

EVRRY time Irwin would face an animal he made it a POINT to tell the audience that it was NOT "tame" and "harmless, like a little kitten". He stressed that animals were wild, unpredictable, and DANGEROUS, often times. He was a pro, and made it clear that everyday people should NOT attempt to mess with snakes,alligators, tigers, bears, komodo dragons and other dangerous animals.

Anyone who thought that THEY could walk up to a king cobra and look it in the eye as Irwin did, and NOT get zapped, is a FOOL!!

I , personally LOVED to watch him in action. I am an animal lover anyway, and love shows like wild discovery, big cat diary, O'sheas big adventures, etc. It intrigued me at the way he was able to seemingly "bond" with so many creatures , nearly any of which could, at any time,snuff out his life at any second. But he never stopped doing what he loved to do. He was an animal lover and did a lot to help the real cause to preserve endangered animals, and educate those of us who could never do what he did. By braving injury from all of those animals for so long, he enabled many of us to "get a closer look", that we could never do ourselves. Yes-- he died as a result of a "stunt" so to speak, and yes, he took a risk, and THIS time, he paid the price. But isn't life about taking risks, anyway?? As someone else said--we take a big risk everytime we pull out of our driveways. If a person does not want to take any risks in life, I guess they should never go outside of their house.

I will miss him. I doubt their will be another like him.

[Bronzewound]

Shows like this one simply perpetuated the myths that "our planet is nice and gentle and only WE are bad and can't everything just get along ... Ooooooohhhh.... Let's tap the heads of the great White Shark - poke Moray eels with fingers" ... the idiot list grows and grows.

You've either never really watched his show or just didn't listen. Your comments totally misportrayed the spirit of his life. He always described how deadly those animals were. He knew he had a special gift to bring us close to it, that's all. I never saw him call everyone into the river to swim with the nice friendly crocs.

Before you go on a rant, know what you're talking about. Crikey!

[schwing_wifey]

Steve Irwin: You had to have lived a pretty good life to have this many children mourning your death


My son (14) turned to me to say in a most heartfelt and sad fashion : "Mom, Who will there be for me to watch now?"


Steve taught my son about animals and always explained that they needed to be cherished and protected, so I really don't care if some people think he was too "hands on". He brought the wonder of nature into my living room.

God Bless and RIP Mate!

[Loud Mime]

I noticed how he didn't handle a black mamba....

Darn, I'm going to miss him; he was a great entertainer!

[Captainpaintball]

I pray for his family, especially his two children, his friends and fans. I wish Bindi and Bob had more time to spend with their dad. I hear his 8-year old daughter was to start hosting a show soon. I hope she is strong enough to eventually try. It's very sad. I keep thinking about her and her little brother. Whenever someone we admire dies young or unexpectedly, it comes as a shock, and one may find them repeating the question "Why?" a lot. I know I have been doing just that the last couple of days.

We all knew what he did was risky, but people like me thought that his good nature, kindness, gentle demeanor and positive attitude acted as some kind of "invincibility shield" that would prevent him form any and all danger. How silly it seemed, but the alternative was unthinkable. I'm trying to think of another celebrity that was as positive and just plain feel-good as Irwin, and I'm drawing blanks. In a time when we need more people to inspire us and bring us a little cheer, his death seems even more tragic.

Osama walks the earth and Steve Irwin is taken from it. This proves life is not fair, there are no guarantees in life except death, and we can not take our time on this earth for granted, for we do not know when our time is up.

Look down upon your children, Steve. Keep giving them the spirit of adventure you had every waking hour of your brief stay here on Earth. Protect them from the inevitable bites, scratches, and bruises the your little croc hunters will accumulate as they grow and learn to follow in your larger-than-life-sized footsteps. But most importantly, help them deal with the pain they feel from losing you, their guide, their teacher, their father. Crocs Rule.

[beaversmom]

Osama walks the earth and Steve Irwin is taken from it.

We had a neighbor from Eritrea. One of the sweetest most gentle men you could ever meet. A truly good man. He had just got married, had a baby daughter, and his wife had just found out she was a few weeks pregnant with number two. He dies 4 days after finding out she was pregnant again. You have evil bastards that will live to be 162 years old, but my neighbor gets wiped out at 40. Of all the people that could have been taken, Irwin wouldn't have been on my list.

[Al Simmons]

"While we live, let us LIVE!"

- Old Roman proverb

[gleeaikin]

"Watch out for that spring that's ready to pop any day now. That coil might even kill you."

In news of the weird, I read about a man carrying a toilet up a stairs, fell, broke the toilet and was stabbed to death by a sharp porcelain shard of toilet. Imagine that stabbed to death by a toilet.

[angkor]

"He was a fool - but an entertaining fool. Shame he killed himself so young."

A fool? He was making $14 million a year from his businesses.

Killed himself? Getting hit by a stingray is one of the more freakish and unlikely accidents out there.

There's plenty more dementia in your pathetic little screed, but I'll just leave it at that.

You're obviously not 1/10th the man as Irwin, and you're not even ashamed of it!

[angkor]

"Steve taught my son about animals and always explained that they needed to be cherished... "

What is personally ironic to me is this:

During my own youth Jacques Cousteau was a personal inspiration for many kids (though certainly he was less flamboyant). We had all of his books, went on school field trips to see his documentaries, and I recall being personally upset when one of his local in-person presentations was sold out before we could buy tickets.

As a kid I would have been very upset if he had died unexpectedly. (And let no one say that his exploits weren't "dangerous", because all of his underwater exploration inventions - most notably SCUBA gear - were still experimental and quite dangerous at the time).

In any case the irony is that Cousteau's son Phillipe - an accomplished undersea filmmaker - was among the small crew with Irwin last weekend.

[mom4kittys]

I was watching Animal Planet the other night when they were replaying episodes of Crocodile Hunter. One showed Steve going woohoo while watching some whales. I had an immediate flashback to John Denver and Jacques Cousteau aboard the Calypso. Remember that?

[schwing_wifey]

"The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau!!!"

I know what you mean because I was upset when Jacques Cousteau died in June 1997 aged 87 of a heart attack.

You must be thinking of the grandson Philippe...

1979: His son Philippe Cousteau died in a PBY Catalina flying boat crash. His wife was pregnant at the time.

This is the first time my son has identified with a TV personality and his death. I also find it amusing that the Steve nay-sayers are unknowns looking for 15 mins of fame while the "Crocodile Hunter" was known (and MAINLY LOVED) world wide.

[angkor]

"You must be thinking of the grandson Philippe.."

Yes, I think you're correct.

In any case, I'm not sure if he was the camerman actually in the water with Irwin when it happened, but he was part of the weekend expedition.

[New Girl]

Little people who live comfortable lives without adventure, without coloring outside the lines, expect congratulations and praise for Doing As They're Told. They want the applause, and the thrill of being alive, without doing anything to deserve them. They want to live lives of excitement, but they like things kept at a nice air conditioned 65 degrees.

These people HATE IT when someone else shows them that they made their own choices, and their choices gave them the lives they have.

We ALL make choices that lead to the lives we have, though our circumstances are different. Some people want to mope and say they never had a chance, they didn't get to choose, etc. But that's bull--we all get to choose how we deal with what we're handed.

Someone like Irwin committed the cardinal sin to these people--he lived a fun life. His death gives these little people a chance to crow that he was wrong, somehow, because he didn't live a long life. Yet he packed more adventure and fun and LOVE of life into his 44 years than most people would if they lived to be 150. (And they would like to live that long, though one wonders why.)

That pisses people off, this love and enjoyment of life, because it tells the Little People that they had the chance to live as they wished--not as Irwin did, but doing whatever it was they dreamed of doing before they conformed--and the person they have to blame for NOT living as they chose was the person in the mirror.

This was such a great post that I had to put part of it up again. I would also add that I've heard people complaining over and over again about how Steve never thought about his kids... From all accounts, Steve spent every moment that he possibly could with his kids. Just by the nature of his job, he probably got to spend more time with his kids than 90% of fathers out there who have to work 12 hours a day at some crappy job they don't even like. Now Steve's closest friends, those who loved and respected him, will embrace Steve's family -- you can be sure of it.

You know, my fiance's father is still alive in his 80s now. He was never much of a father to my fiance. He never took the time to teach his kids anything and he didn't have the patience to spend quality time with them. He got up and went to work everyday, came home and had a cocktail and that was about it. Is that better?????

[Helen]

Your comment sounds like you never watched him work. If you watched him, then you were blind to his work.

[angkor]

"people complaining over and over again about how Steve never thought about his kids"

Though I admired the guy and liked some of his shows, I'm not an Irwin fanatic.

But the people knocking him for (a) exposing himself to perceived danger and/or (b) exposing animals to humans, are utterly pathetic, IMO.

The critiques of Irwin are really self-referential.