Irwin dies

For various reasons, some celebrity deaths hit me harder than others. Jim Henson was tough because the muppets were such a big part of my childhood. Christopher Reeve was difficult to absorb (especially his initial injury) simply he was freakin' Superman. And the latest one is Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter.

Irwin died Monday morning after being attacked by a stingray while shooting a TV program off Australia's north coast.

Many people are saying he died doing what he loved, but I'm struck by the incongruity of it all. While it would have been no less tragic, being mauled by a croc or crushed by a python would have seemed more heroically appropriate. But for a man who has rubbed up against most of the world's deadliest creatures to have been killed by an essentially peaceful and harmless animal makes it all that much more senseless.