I know this entry is about 8 months late however I was just watching his show on Discovery Channel and felt his passion right from the television show. After the passing of the "Croc Hunter" Steve Irwin, my first thought was for his children who would grow up without having their father. But I was also saddened because it felt like a great loss. Steve Irwin seemed invincible. I'm sure we all thought because he put himself at risk that an accident might occur - but those thoughts were easy to dismiss, because there wasn't a venomous snake, charging rhino or toothy croc that could fell our hero.
And that's what really strikes me about Steve Irwin - he transcended celebrity to become something much more: a modern hero. He was fearless, certainly - I can't imagine doing a fraction of the things he did - but that wasn't what made him a hero. It was his passion, his irrepressible joy on constant display and his larger-than-life enthusiasm for his work that made him a hero. He was truly incorrigible, and we loved him for that. He stood for something that he believed in and paved his life to fight for what he believed in; something that many fail to achieve.
He will be missed.