Rhonda Bracey: At Random

Something is happening in the Land Down Under…

We lost TWO massive Aussie icons and personalities this week – Steve Irwin on Monday, and today, Peter Brock. I know Pluto got downgraded from a planet to a “minor planet” or something equally insignificant in the past couple of weeks. But I’m not aware of any other shift in the universe that might have caused a ripple.

Both men were pursuing what they loved when they both died so tragically. And according to all news reports, both died instantly or damned close to it.

And both deaths have brought some web servers in Australia to their knees as people scrambled to verify the information that they heard or read about. I know that when I first saw mention of Steve Irwin’s death on Monday on News.com.au some 10 minutes after it was posted, the first thing I did was go to the ABC’s website to verify the information. Nothing there for about 2 minutes, then some 5 minutes later the website went down for at least an hour. As did the websites for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Wonder how they’d cope if something REALLY big happened…

Losing these two icons so tragically and in the prime of their respective lives brings home the preciousness of life and the need to live every moment.