Steve Irwin: The Crocodile Hunter.

Steve Irwin died today at the age of 44. He was filming his new documentaries about creatures 20 thousand leagues below the sea, where he was impaled by a provoked stingray, fatally, and instantly ending his life.

I've known Steve Irwin's face and voice since my childhood. His jovial mannerisms, and energetic presentations of the wild were, if not mesmerising, induced the greatest degrees of awe and suspense. In some ways, I guess I always saw him as someone who always succeeded, like the heroes read about in fairy tales, and fantasy books. The man who always came out on top, even against nature itself. So when I heard the news about his passing, I was in shock. The Crocodile Hunter was dead.

I was reminded of his battlecries, his "Crikeys! That's a big one mate!~" before lunging forward, fearless, grappling and wrestling with the fierce crocodiles, who stood no chance as it submitted to Irwin's strong arm strength. And then I re-read all the news reports, and I just simply cannot believe how such a man was killed by something so small and usually safe.

But then I think about all the people I know, and how aimless one can be, I think in many ways, Steve Irwin has lead a wonderfully fulfilled life. He has a family that loves him and shares his interest, a job he loves to do, and a quick goodbye doing it. He has kept the Austrailian Zoo, his great love alive with his money, providing the animals he loved better homes and better lives.

Irwin was a man of action, but also one of inteligence. He didn't just wrestle crocodiles, and chase down reptiles, he understood them. He made contact with nature instead of hunting it down, and from these experiences, he opened up doors everywhere for laymen to delve in, to understand with him. He spoke up politically for what he believed in, and did so no matter what the public may think. And even though people may just call him a Crocodile Hunter, in my mind Irwin was an eccentric, jolly, courageous and honest man, that is deserving of all the respect we can give him, for dying on the job, doing something he loved.

And really, isn't that what we're all trying to do? Finding a job that suits our passion, and using it to help for a cause, or an organization, your relatives and family, or even that poor slob sitting two blocks from where you go to work, who happened to gotten the cold slap of unemployment after years of service. Maybe even use it to help yourself define who you really are.

R.I.P. Steve Irwin.