I have been reading "My Steve" by Terri Irwin and it has given me mixed feelings about life, mortality, children and animal liberation. The way that he lived his life in some ways made me jealous. I used to think of him as a bit of a "Jackass" - the way he placed himself with dangerous animals in front of the camera for shock value. I realised more recently that he was just like that, and the fact that he made an impact at the same time suited multiple purposes. The crazy stuff I did in my youth I can just put down to my youth, but Steve certainly carried it right through his whole short life. He is a reminder that life is too short and one must take that into account.
Also the way Steve (and Terri) exposed the children to wildlife astonishingly early and had an expectation of them continuing the family "business" strikes a chord with me, as I have similar ambitions for our family business. I am concordant with Steve and Terri that experiences even just before or after birth have a significance in moulding an individual, especially with things to do with wildlife. I find the "wildlife warrior" message to be inherently inconsistent, yet noble and impossible to argue against. Animals they deal with have been elevated to human status, yet no quasi-religious arguments for vegetarianism are proffered nor a suggestion of laws needing to be changed. There is a distinct push for the purchasing land for private habitat reserves, and they put their money where their mouth is in that regard. New concepts like the "Crocoseum" have been wonderful.
4 comments:
It's just dangerous and irresponsible exposing children to T-shirts at such a young age- you should be ashamed of yourself! :P
PS: Why weren't you there in Bellaggio? I forget.
Don't mock. Early on, we would use our cutting table as a change table. Belinda was dragged along to work more than the other kids, and she seems to have a much greater affinity for it. However - making the kids put away the dishes and paying them some pocket money is good parenting. However if you brought shirts home to trim and you pay your child to help - That's child labour explotation. Exposing children to t-shirts or crocodiles cannot be done in public in front of cameras under any circumstances
The picture was in Inverigo. We were hanging out at my grandparents or Uncle's place there, and I had a snooze. You and the Groose went for a walk in the meantime. I am not sure how close the place is to lake Como - will have to look it up on Google Earth. I just know I wasn't there for that photo - you must have taken it.
I don't remember taking it, but I guess I must have! There was a different wall we climbed over that was definitely in Bellaggio, though, that I was thinking of- we escaped from a narrow laneway full of tourists to this lovely garden...
(I was being even sillier than you have assumed... I was talking about the danger of the children *wearing* the t-shirts)
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