Sometimes heroes erupt across the pages of our imagination, born suddenly out of tragedy or some twist of fate. More rarely, and perhaps more enduringly, heroes are grown in the shadows of other great men, as extensions of the visionaries who have come before. This is the power that a father wields in the eyes of his children.
Ask David Suzuki, respected CBC broadcaster, nature advocate and hero to many, the why of it all, and he quickly makes it clear that his compelling approach to environmentalism was largely borne of the latter the nurturing love of a father who bucked family expectation in favour of weekend fishing trips with his son.
My father really was my hero, my teacher, my mentor, begins Suzuki. My grandparents came from Japan and like all immigrant families, they came totally impoverished. Their whole thing was Make money, youve gotta make money to get the security. Work, work, work. And I always said to my dad, Dad, you were a mutant, what the hell was wrong with you?
The eldest son in the family of seven, Kaoru Carr Suzuki was expected to set the example, but he would take time off to spend it outdoors. He had a garden, and his parents, my grandparents, thought he was frivolous.
Suzuki says that made him feel very resentful as a child.
The whole family would gather every weekend to have dinner at the grandparents place and theyd be giving him shit: Why did you take David fishing when you could have been home on Saturday working? But it was my dads love of the out of doors that was everything to me. The first memory I have in Vancouver was downtown. Wed gone to a small store to buy a tent and we set it up right on the wooden floor and crawled in. It was the most vivid memory of the excitement of going camping with my dad.
But while the seed was planted at an early age, that alone wasnt enough to forge The Environmentalist as we know him today.
Part of the motivation was the war years. Although I was a third generation Canadian, my government said I wasnt to be trusted, that we were basically enemy aliens. And the result of that is I have a very deep hang- up about the way I look, being Asian, and a hang-up about constantly wanting to show Canadians that Im a worthwhile person that they made a mistake.
Suzukis lingering insecurities could be the one thing he hasnt passed down to his children.
I never intended to have my children become like me, but environmentalism is a way of seeing the world and, to me, Ive been very successful as a father because they are all like that. Ones an artist, one works for the Vancouver Hospital, but they all are avid outdoorspeople, campers; they see the world as I do.
Children often ask Suzuki how to save the world. First I tell them, The world is doing fine. The world doesnt care whether humans are here or not so dont think youre saving the world, but what do you want to be as an adult? Follow your heart, whatever you love, youll be good at. My kids have got it, and they certainly are passing it on to my grandchildren.
Now, as the fifth generation stares up at the man in the loose red shirt and kindly face, will they walk in his footsteps?
I am now an absolute, over-the-moon grandfather. And I like to tell people, Look, Im past the stage. Testosterone levels have dropped. When youre not thinking about sex every minute, Ive gotten really smart! No one can accuse me of wanting more fame or money or power. Im past that, Im 76 years old, and my whole priority is my grandchildren.
He spent a week with them on Haida Gwaii recently, and, by all indications, has no intention of hanging up his cape.
The day I left I took my older grandson with a net and we went to this little wee bit of water and found frogs eggs. It was so absolutely magical. He didnt know what the hell it was. I said, Look inside, you can see the baby frogs, and by the time we got them to the bucket at his house, they were already emerging from the jelly.
When I called him last, he was so excited he calls me bompa Bompa, Bompa, my tadpoles are now swimming. And apparently everybody that now comes to the house its Come and see my tadpoles. You know, theyre my tadpoles. That, to me, is the beginning of the whole thing.
Maybe not the stuff of classic comic book lore, but if David Suzuki were a superhero franchise, wed be in store for some very successful remakes.
To learn how to protect the world you live in, visit DavidSuzuki.org
You can follow Kelsey Klassen on Twitter @KelseyKlassen.
