Now in the seventh decade of my life, I look back at the world of my childhood, with its shared phone lines, ice boxes, radio soap operas and no television and it seems like an ancient, lost civilization. And yet the ideas and values I learned as a child seem every bit as important for today’s youth, for whom rappers, billionaires and movie stars are role models.

When I was a boy, my father was a bigger-than-life figure, a wonderful storyteller who enchanted people with his outgoing personality. He was my hero. He took me camping and fishing and instilled in me a love of nature and the outdoors. When he came home from work, he always asked me what I had learned in school and as I recounted my lessons, he seemed genuinely interested, often amplifying my information or correcting me. I loved those sessions and I now realize he was reinforcing my education by making me recount what I had learned.

Dad was my biggest booster, but he was also my harshest critic. When I began in television, he followed everything I did. More than once when he couldn’t follow my narrative, he would call and bawl me out: “If I can’t understand what you are saying, how do you expect someone who doesn’t know you at all to follow your ideas?” To this day, I think of my father as my audience whenever I prepare a script or write a book.

My mother was the rock-solid foundation of the family. She was the first up in the morning and the last to bed at night, but unlike Dad, she did it quietly. I only understood how important she was as she developed Alzheimer’s disease and I watched Dad struggle to fill her shoes. I begged him to allow me to hire help for him, but he declined.

“She gave her all for me,” he said, “and it’s my turn to pay her back.”

Both my parents are now dead and in my own dotage, I think about the important lessons I want to pass on to my children and grandchildren — and I realize they are the same lessons I got from Dad. I can’t help think they are not quaint ideas from the past, but very modern ones that we need desperately today.

“Respect your elders,” he told me.

“Live within your means.” This important lesson is embodied in the familiar expression, “Save some for a rainy day.”

“You must stand up for what you believe in, but be prepared for people to be angry and to disagree. If you want to be liked by everyone, then you will stand for nothing.”

Today’s youth are bombarded with news about the antics of Lindsay Lohan, Amy Winehouse and Jay-Z and look to them for inspiration, but that’s all the more reason to listen to the words of our elders.

Take David Suzuki’s Nature Challenge and learn more at www.davidsuzuki.org.

– Dr. David T. Suzuki is a Vancouver-based  award-winning scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster.