Never Attack an Individual

In a speech given at his father’s (former Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau) funeral, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shares this story about an experience he had with his father when he was a young boy:

As I guess it is for most kids, in Grade 3, it was always a real treat to visit my dad at work. As on previous visits this particular occasion included a lunch at the parliamentary restaurant which always seemed to be terribly important and full of serious people that I didn’t recognize. But at eight, I was becoming politically aware. And I recognized one whom I knew to be one of my father’s chief rivals.

Thinking of pleasing my father, I told a joke about him – a generic, silly little grade-school thing. My father looked at me sternly with that look I would learn to know so well, and said: ‘Justin, never attack the individual. One can be in total disagreement with someone without denigrating him as a consequence.’ Saying that, he stood up and took me by the hand and brought me over to introduce me to this man. He was a nice man who was eating with his daughter, a nice-looking blonde girl a little younger than I was.

My father’s adversary spoke to me in a friendly manner and it was then that I understood that having different opinions from those of another person in no way precluded holding this person in the highest respect. Because mere tolerance is not enough: we must have true and deep respect for every human being, regardless of his beliefs, his origins and his values.

That is what my father demanded of his sons and that is what he demanded of our country. He demanded it out of love – love of his sons, love of his country. That is why we love him so. These letters, these flowers, the dignity of the crowds who came to say farewell – all of that is a way of thanking him for having loved us so much.