RIP Patrick Swayze

As I go through the new members on T4PE, banning the ones that are actually ads for acai berries, teeth whiteners, and how-to-potty-train-a-puppy (Seriously? BTW- apologies if you've received messages from some of these things- I'm trying to keep up on weeding them out), I'm thinking about actor Patrick Swayze and how sad I was to hear of his passing. I know for most of you he's another (kind of) older actor, but for those of us who were the right age when Dirty Dancing hit, for a brief time, he was the definition of heartthrob. I knew him as an actor and dancer, but didn't know, until I read his obituary, that he had become a conservationist- he was so affected by a trip to Africa a few years back (to shoot a TV movie) that upon coming back he went to work on a documentary series about Africa's wildlife. The series never got made (proving even actors with a track record can't get every project greenlit), but it was nice to hear that he'd been so affected by what he'd seen in Africa that he wanted to do something to try to make the world a better place.

So, was there a specific instance or person in your life that made you a conservationist? Did you have an "Africa" moment, like Swayze? Were you inspired by a parent, teacher, friend, celebrity? Or was it always part of who you are?

Here's Swayze's obit on Greendaily.com: http://www.greendaily.com/2009/09/14/patrick-swayze-actor-and-conservationist-dies-at-57/