Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Loss

I'm feeling miserable today. It's illogical, and I never would have suspected that I might react this way, but I'm feeling sorrowful and dejected, and almost broken-hearted, over the death of Steve Irwin.


There was a lot to like about Irwin. He was one of a rare breed of environmentalists who understands nature and loves it, without worshiping it. He could admire it and enjoy it and explore it without feeling the need to abase himself before it. He was the very antithesis of those loathsome Greens politicians who confuse misanthropy with conservation.


He was also one of those people who bubble over with enthusiasm, turning it from a character trait into an infectious disease. By all accounts, he had no trace of guile or hauteur. He reacted to every day as if he was six years old and it was Christmas morning. How can anyone not envy that? He was an example of what every right-thinking Australian man wants to be; maybe not so overtly, but at his core.


Yes, his movie was so awful that I could only stare at it in stunned disbelief (I saw it on a plane). Yes, he had a Farrah Fawcett hairstyle. But I believe that if every person in the world was like Steve Irwin, it would be a better (if more exhausting) place.


Although of course the crocodiles would never get a moment's peace...

1 Comments:

Blogger Eric B. said...

I felt those same pangs yesterday. I played him a tribute song; it was Dragonforce, but done in all seriousness.

What a way to go, though. Splashed across the headlines for days.

We'll miss you Steve, hopefully you're curating a zoo in heaven.

12:57 PM  

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