Too Soon

The world has lost a great conservationist, entertainer, and character in Steve Irwin, a.k.a. The Crocodile Hunter. He was killed by a stingray while filming a television special in his native Australia. He was 44 years old. My heart goes out to his family and to all of his fans everywhere.

There has been a great deal of coverage on what news outlets the world over are calling a shocking development. I'm surprised. Not that there's a lot of coverage. Surprised that it could be considered by anyone to be shocking. Sad, definitely. Sudden, certainly. But shocking?

Let's see... a man who routinely engaged crocodiles and other dangerous, wild animals... killed by a wild animal? Hmmm.... Now, if he had been gunned down... or hit by a bus... or crushed by a piano falling from the sky. Those things would have been shocking! This? Just sad.

Calling this shocking would be like calling the tiger attack on Sigfried or Roy (I can never remember which one it was!) shocking. The guy was playing WITH A TIGER! "But those tigers are trained," shocked fans and friends always pointed out. I'm pretty well trained to pee into a toilet, but if you think I never get a little on the seat, you're sadly mistaken. In other words, you can lead a tiger to the toilet, but you can't make him not attack strange, flamboyant entertainers.

Mother Nature is very powerful, indeed. I don't recommend getting too fresh with her. Unless, perchance, you are Chuck Norris. Now that's a fight I'd pay to see.