Crocodile Hunter: The Not so Ordinary Bloke
He treasured all of God’s creatures and had a healthy respect for them as well; evident by the way he treated them, recognized their danger, and saved thousands of species that would have been killed. With his own money he purchased land for conservation and created sanctuaries for wildlife.
A man recently told me that when Steve 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.
Steve 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.
Steve Irwin lived for what he loved and he made a living doing so, protected the species so dear to him, and educated others at the same time, especially children who loved him dearly. How many of us can say the same thing? Steve Irwin had more adventure, love, and fun in his 44 years than most people will ever know, even if they lived to be 100.
As I look around me I see average people with ordinary lives; few stand out and just as many make a difference. I’m one of those ordinary people, which makes a man like Steve Irwin so fascinating to me. He was one of the good guysâÂ?¦
I’ve been disappointed while reading what Steve’s detractors have been saying and feel that a time of morning is in inappropriate time to place blame, accuse, and bring up old hurts.
I firmly believe that no matter what anyone says about Steve Irwin, that they can never diminish his echo in life, or his many accomplishments aimed at protecting wildlife and giving back through conservation and education.
I also believe that many of his detractors are simply envious, and if they saw him as reckless, perhaps he reminded them of their own cowardice.
Put another way, Steve Irwin showed these people that by simply being himself without any sort of care to what others thought of him; lived a life of great fun, while they didn’t.
Steve Irwin lived his dream without regrets and most of us will never know what that’s like, and instead of looking in the mirror and blaming themselves for the choices they made that gave them the conventional lives that they are living, they lash out at a person who was anything but conventional.
Steve Irwin died in the course of doing what he chose to do, and loved to do. For those that say he lived a life of risks, I say that we all do, just by existing, and even more so each time we walk out our doors, and no matter what we do in life, and no matter how careful we are, we’re all doomed to die, and passing away in a hospital bed or succumbing to heart failure is not a better death. Personally, I would rather die by embracing life than cower in fear each moment I remain alive.
Perhaps one of the lessons we should take from Steve Irwin is to let go of our fear and live our dreams because life is remarkably fragile and time is fleeting.
I know that Steve Irwin is the only person that has inspired me to live life to the fullest because he was off the charts special, although he would have insisted that he was just an ‘ordinary bloke.’
The reason his death has hit me so hard is because it’s heart wrenching to lose someone who made every moment count, took nothing for granted, and found wonder and amazement in everything he did, experienced, and saw.
I recently heard an agnostic man say that even though he wasn’t a big believer, God wouldn’t be saying, “I’m so glad you sat on your ass for the 80 years you were alive” but “What took you so long to get here? Didn’t you take any risks at all?”
Rare was the cause of Steve Irwin’s death, but rarer still was the man who knew how to live, really liveâÂ?¦
God bless you Steve. You were one-of-a-kind and will never be forgotten.
