Come July, it will be 27 years since I have been a newspaper columnist. Between 1988 and 1998, I wrote for the Jamaica Record, and when that paper folded I wrote for the Jamaica Herald. For a time, I had two columns at the Jamaica Record, my regular one and another on the “Against All Odds” page, which highlighted successes among disabled persons. And, while at the Jamaica Herald, for a time I had two columns, my regular one and another on the Religion page on Sunday.

Exactly 17 years ago today, my first column in the Jamaica Observer was published. In 1998, it was only two years since I had ever heard the word “e-mail”, and even later I heard the word “Internet”. When we were still in the last century, I had no idea that the day would come when my column would be read in all parts of the world. When I reached my 25-year mark as a newspaper columnist, in 2013, I wrote that my compilations of columns would be published. The truth is that it has been a far more daunting task than I previously thought, and it seems that it will have to wait a little longer.

No newspaper columnist can please everyone at the same time, and none should try to do that. I have never in my life been in a popularity contest, and I absolutely have no intentions of being in one now. I have never been in the pay of any interest group, and I have always written and spoken my own views in newspapers and in my days as a radio news analyst on IRIE FM. And to do this, I have stuck it out through thick and thin.

I have been commended for an ability to write about complex issues in simple language. I attribute this to my days as an employee of the National Literacy Programme (later JAMAL, now Jamaica Foundation for Lifelong Learning) to simplify the news sheets from the Jamaica Information Service for the adult literacy classes. Conversely, I have been harshly criticised by some who opine that my simple style is an insult to their intelligence. And there are those who have complained that I have confused them.

Where I am wrong, I am wrong, but I still believe that on most occasions it is because the complainant lacks comprehension skills. Just last week there was such a complaint in Jamaica Observer online.

The Munroe doctrine is about preventing other superpowers from having commerce in the region. So Obama makes a gift of US$70 million towards youth entrepreneurship for this reason, and I believe also to stop people flocking to the United States. But that will not solve our problems, such as poor family life, which is rooted in our history. And it is the same poor family life that will cause the legal or illegal migration.

The state of family life caused me to go into social work in 1971. Did I need to write that it is the state of family life that causes unwanted children to be in places of safety? Did I need to spell it out that some youngsters in places of safety will try their luck at getting to America? What do you think that ward of the State was trying to do recently when he pulled a fast one about being left behind by parents at the airport?

In the early years at the Jamaica Record, the entity was under-financed and overburdened with loans that the ownership obviously had problems servicing. As a result, there were delays in getting payment. I recall on many occasions standing in line at a bank and hearing over the public address system: “May I have your attention, please. Employees at the Jamaica Record need not stand in line.” In other words, there was no money in the bank to pay us. And this was after everyone — from the chief editor down — had literally run from the Jamaica Record on West Street in downtown Kingston office to a bank a few hundred yards away to get our cheques cashed before the creditors made their claims. One day someone should write a book about that experience. And one day someone should write about the experience of waiting at the Jamaica Record on Holy Thursday in 1989 until late into the night, waiting for pay so that we could buy bun and cheese for Easter, only to be told that there was no money.

I recall witnessing a physical tussle at the gate of the Jamaica Record between the bailiffs and some of the senior staff as bailiffs seized the computers. And I recall being paid cash for columns owed for several months lest the creditors seize it at the bank. The cash was in coins and the lower denomination notes. I was given a large paper bag (anyone remember those?) to carry the money.

So why did we continue under those conditions? There was still an idea about service that perhaps lingered on from 1938 when the nationalist spirit ushered in a sense of volunteerism that is almost completely dead today. More importantly, there was motivation for the concept of keeping a second daily paper alive to allow for the expression for the so-called underclass, masses, proletariat, or what you will.

Eventually a libel suit caused its closure as apparently the only way to pay the damages was to sell some of the assets. A few months after, the Jamaica Herald opened up on Molynes Road and I was a columnist there until it became a weekly paper. All of this happened before I wrote for this newspaper. From there I moved to the Jamaica Observer in April 1998 and have been writing for this paper ever since.

Only twice in 17 years did my column not appear in this newspaper, the last time being in January of this year when, due to a modern invention called the Internet, my column was lost in cyberspace.

Thanks to all the people who have supported me with encouragement over the years and to my detractors for the feedback.

ekrubm765@yahoo.com