Documenting and preserving their stories, their legacy, is so crucial now as a way to offer younger generations a chance to learn from them. My fear is they might become a generation reserved for casual historical mentions of the times they lived in, their memories and lessons forgotten and lost forever.

The more exceptional the individual, the more vulnerable they are to the green-eyed monster. It would be intellectually dishonest to say that I never gossip myself. I succumb to the temptation too. We all do. Because we are human. But I strive to honour the wisdom I have learned from academia and everyday experience about the devastating effects gossip can have.

Almost 4 per cent of the population develops schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and these disorders mostly appear in youth and young adults. The families who this year will discover the agony of psychotic illnesses need to know that genuine help is available. The path to that help is just much more treacherous than it should be.

As this is mental health awareness week, maybe we should become more aware of those with serious untreated mental illness living on the streets, in our jails and elsewhere who deserve to be treated and to live a dignified life.

It was 16 years ago that I stood in our home-turned-headquarters and watched the legendary Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes interview my very nervous 13-year-old younger brother. It was a rare glimpse behind the scenes of one of North America's best known news shows. When 60 Minutes came calling again last year, we greeted the news with both anticipation and trepidation.