So the big news today pretty much across all the news sources I’ve looked at has been the death of Steve Irwin. And, like a lot of people, TSP and I have been talking about him, his conservation work, how his work as a naturalist contrasted with his ‘crocodile hunter’ image (which never involved hunting them at all, as far as I can see).
I always feel a bit weird about the sadness that surrounds celeb deaths, especially those who haven’t really made much of a dent in your life – I mean, John Peel’s death felt like something major had gone from the lives of an entire generation of British radio listeners and musicians, but Steve Irwin was always a novelty character on UK TV, someone to be giggled at as he hammed up an encounter with some poisonous critter or other.
There’s a deep and genuine sadness for his family – his wife and two small children – it’s always terrible to hear of families that are bereaved. And that’s just it. There are loads of bereaved families every day, there are naturalists and conservationists dying, there are humanitarian workers being killed, peace protesters in the middle east, aid workers in Darfur, good people, unknown, unsung wonderful selfless people who die and leave a devastating hole in their families, but don’t make the news because they weren’t showbiz enough.
This isn’t to take anything away from sadness of Steve Irwin’s death, or to suggest that we should have a TV channel for obituaries of ordinary people. More that we should be aware of our own dispensation towards colourful characters, be they in the media or in our social situations. It’s easy to mourn the death of a star, just as it’s easy to mark any event in the lives of people who make themselves the centre of attention, but it’s harder to see, to recognise the good done by those who don’t do their positive work in the spotlight, who don’t have a catchphrase, or a film about their life, but instead get on with doing their thing. And if we’re not careful we’ll miss them, miss the chances we have to celebrate them, the encourage them and to support their families if they are tragically taken away.
Well said!
All of the news items today were about people who died in some way – soldiers, civillians… and a celebrity. You’d think, from the way it was all reported, that his death was more important, more devastating, more of a loss than the others.
This world is upside down!
AMEN!
Once again you manage to put things in the right perspective. Thank you, Steve!
he had it coming to him but stilla shock
He had it coming to him? Given that only one other recorded death by Stingray had been recorded, it’s hardly a particularly dangerous thing to do to swim with them…
I think that he was actually far more aware of what he was doing than people often gave him credit for. He looked like he was being insanely dangerous, but wasn’t, and tragically, it was doing something not particularly dangerous at all in the statistical sense that eventually killed him.
So I certainly don’t think he had it coming to him…