About Trudy…. and why she writes:
A Little Mennonite Girl Grows Up
Trudy grew up in northern Alberta in a small homesteading community.
Most of her neighbours were Old Colony Mennonite, like her own family. Unlike most of them, she was allowed to wear her hair down in braids, listen to the radio, and learning about the outside world was encouraged. This meant she was a bit of an outcast, which meant that to this day she doesn’t really mind standing alone on issues she feels strongly about.
My Dad and I, first selfie.
In a home where discussion was encouraged.
We are shaped both by nature and nurture.
Trudy is the fourth child of the oldest four, and eight years older than her twin sisters which apparently makes her both bossy and a baby, so maybe a boss baby?
Because she was the youngest for so many years, she got to spend time with her Dad. Being allowed to play with oiling cans, hammers, and nails, and riding along on the “Nine” tractor are among her fond memories, and occasional trips to town were the honours of being the baby.
Dinner table and evening discussions were part of everyday life. The senior Trudeau was the subject of many a rant with his blatant disregard for the West. At school teachers praised the new Constitution and Charter of Rights, but at home this “progress” was the topic of many rants against the danger of giving courts too much power to shape public policy.
Her Dad taught her that government exists to serve the people.
Her Mom taught much wisdom, taught her the love of all things British, and modeled the strength to endure the hardships of pioneering life.
She taught Trudy to value people, and to fight for equality and due process.
“I hope to do as much with what I have as my parents did with the little they had.” says Trudy, and tears up every time she watches LOTR where Theodon says:
“My body is broken. I go to my fathers. And even in their mighty company I shall not now be ashamed.”
— Tolkien, Return of the King
It wasn’t all serious though. Her family farm dugout was the neighbourhood ice rink, and Edmonton Oilers play-by-play was listened to on the contraband radio. “Gretzky, Kurri….score!” still rings in her ears. Summers were spent cycling through the countryside on gravel roads, with scars on her knees to prove it.
Everyone has a dragon.
Trudy’s dragon was very evident in her home community.
The dragon’s oppression was obvious. She thought she left behind the dragon by moving away. However, the dragon reappeared in the modern world she embraced.
This world was not as open, accountable, transparent, and free, as she had thought.
This dragon represents itself as tolerance, but the reality is oppression.
As equality, but the reality is simply a new ruling elite that cares even less for those they rule.
As unity, but the reality is division, as people are forced into ever smaller identities and then worst of all, stereotyped and silenced if they speak with their own voice.
Trudy’s challenge:
Trudy’s challenge is learning to battle the dragon in the modern world she entered as a young woman. Her experience of growing up in a utopian community gives her unique insight. Trudy knows the futility and danger of uprooting everything with the idea that “If we can just get everyone to agree, to be the same, we will have a better society."