Ask Canadians what they most associate with lightning and they’d probably say “destruction”. How many would say “rebirth”?

Clearly not the 18-to-24 age group, 90% of whom are experiencing “excessive or uncomfortable levels of stress”. This is one of the findings in the 2012 Sun Life Canadian Health Index report. Contributing factors include underemployment, being underutilized in the workplace and not being able to use their skills and abilities. The number drops to 80% for the 25-to-34 and 35-to-44 age groups.

For millennia, lightning has triggered forest fires that have removed old growth and left ash to nourish seedlings so they could rise from those ashes. The economy is shedding its old growth in the form of dying industries and companies. Not only do our 18-to-24 year-olds have the potential to be Canada’s new growth, they are that new growth. They must understand in depth the position and the environment they’re in and how to exploit it. That help won’t be found in schools and it isn’t coming from government. But it is available.

As this is being written, our American cousins are choosing a leader who would dearly love to remove the old growth and the inertia it represents in one fell swoop. And in that we wish our cousins and their leader well.

But our first priority and concern is our 18-to-24 year-olds, and we wish them well. They are our future, and they are not nearly as encumbered. What they need is a different perspective. PDD can provide that perspective.