The Flower of Youth

Eric Koch is spending two weeks in Europe. A number of his regular readers have generously volunteered to compose guest-postings – this is the second of three by Michael Gundy.

At 19 years and 11 months, Pierre-Luc Dusseault is the youngest person ever elected to Parliament. Recently, NDP leader Jack Layton defended his fellow parliamentarian by stating that Pierre-Luc is old enough to serve freedom in Afghanistan and should be old enough to defend it in Ottawa.

The popular infantilizing of young adults represented by that question has a well-documented history. John Bly, poet and cultural historian, observes a Peter Pan ethic emerging in the 1970s and onward. He mourns the loss of 1960s idealism. Has the sacrifice and foresight of our forefathers been forgotten?

On May 6, John R. Campbell, Q.C., died in Toronto aged 87 and three days. During World War II, he served in Holland. He led a squadron of 24 Ram “Kangaroo” tanks on 60 raids. A Kangaroo is a tank with the turret removed so that it can carry a dozen infantry men. The raids were thrusts behind enemy lines, creating havoc and retreating to safety. John lost only three men, a result of their own mistakes. He visited their families and lied that they died heroes. He celebrated his 21st birthday five days before V-E Day.

Like Pierre-Luc, Sean O’Sullivan was a Parliamentary baby. Born in 1952 in Hamilton, Ontario, O’Sullivan showed an interest in politics at a young age: when he was 11 years old, he met John Diefenbaker for the first time. In 1971, Diefenbaker appointed O’Sullivan as his executive assistant, and in the 1972 election, the 20-year-old O’Sullivan was elected the Progressive Conservative MP for the riding of Hamilton–Wentworth, becoming the youngest member of the Canadian House of Commons ever at that point. He rose quickly through the ranks of the party and was seen as a future cabinet minister or even leader. He was re-elected in 1974.

However, in 1977, O’Sullivan surprised many political observers when he announced that he was leaving politics to enter the Roman Catholic priesthood. Brian Mulroney congratulated him for going “From the ridiculous to the sublime.” O’Sullivan eventually become Director of Vocations for the Archdiocese of Toronto, as well as publisher of The Catholic Register newspaper.

Can we ever forget his gigantic billboard at Yonge and Bloor in the 1980s of a crucified Christ with the Toronto skyline as a background, asking “Dare to be a Priest like me?”

At 31, Sean developed leukemia, dying six years later.

Many have had maturity thrust on them and, no doubt, youth will continue to rise to the challenge.