The last adventure

Steve Irwin, Australia's energetic outdoor adventurer, crocodile hunter, environmentalist, and Discovery and Animal Planet TV personality, died today in the line of duty. Not eaten by a croc or bitten by a snake, but stung right in his heart by a stingray at Batt Reef (near Cairns), while making a documentary, so the police report goes. His wife hasn't heard the news yet, as she's on a hiking expedition in the outback of Tasmania. Never boring to live on the edge, if you don't mind dying there as well. Wikipedia already updated Irwin's records, and I found some interesting information there. Did you know he was terriby scared of parrots? And that his 176-year old turtoise Harriet, that was thought to have belonged to Charles Darwin, recently also died of heart failure?

Comments

[Karolien]

Yes, but when do you cross the cutting edge into silly or unneccesary death?!

[Marc]

Good question. Looking at Irwin's documentaries, he was regularly acting over the edge, and he could have been killed much earlier on in his career. It's sad for his family, he's leaving behind a wife and young kids. Why did he take those risks? I guess because of his passion and ambitious personality. Was it worth it? Who can tell... I wouldn't want to spend my life chasing wild animals, let alone die for it. There are more important things to chase and die for. On the other hand: nothing out of the ordinary is without risks, and you can also be overrun by a car when you cross the street in Melbourne. It's very likely that he even hoped he would get killed 'at work'. It's much more spectacular to die filming a stingray in the Great Barrier Reef than hitting a car bumper.

[Charis Enns]

Think I'll give my life "fighting with beasts" like Paul did at Ephesus (1 Cor 15:32)!