Crikey!

This just in...Steve Irwin, better known at the Crocodile Hunter was killed today off the coast of Australia. This blog is not where most of you will hear this news since the English-speaking population does not yet rush to my blog daily to see what witty, insightful thoughts have been posted. So by the time you read this you will have processed the news of his death and the odd cause of death, stingray stab to the heart. Steve was 44 and left an 8 year old daughter and 3 year old son in addition to his wife. You can read that and much more in any newspaper over the next couple of days. The larger questions for me are not about the survivors but rather about his choices. How do you feel about choosing to engage in dangerous activity with enthusiasm. Most folks enjoyed watching him act like an excited kid when spotting a fat rattlesnake--"Crikey, look at the size of that thing! What a beaut!" In fact, it is fun to be around someone who is genuinely excited much of the time regardless of the source of excitement. Some will debate in coming days whether we should take risks such as he often did when they can be avoided. You know people who take lots of risks and are always hurt or causing hurt. But you likely know some folks who are so afraid of any risk that they live in a cocoon all their life. Some people don't die until their 70's or 80's but it could be debated whether they ever really lived. How do YOU decide to balance an aversion for injury and early death with the desire to experience life. One current song says "feel the rain on your skin, no one can feel it for you". I am inclined to want to live this life for many years, but not to avoid life in order to just "clock in" year after year.
I am sorry Steve died so young and can't really say I am surprised. But his life really looked like fun and many days I envied the lifestyle he had crafted. He makes me wonder what is possible.