Martin Henry
I have been writing this column for 20 years. Writing is lonely work, and very personal. One of the greatest joys is to hear from readers. And I have always felt obliged to respond to individually, which is one reason I do not publish an email address - to avoid the sheer volume of responses this easy medium is likely to generate.
I treasure Michael Manley's warm response to a column, shortly after his retirement from politics, which in the gloom of negative commentary, talked about some things which were right with Jamaica. One of my early pieces, 'A long night at the hospital', had then Minister of Health Ken Baugh tracking me down by telephone to discuss the complaints I had publicly made about the service received. Legal eagle Ian Ramsay sent his congratulations.
But I have heard from hundreds of ordinary Jamaicans who, if you follow the condescending sentiments of the intelligentsia should not be reading deep and serious material. In the early years a retired woman, 'Miss D. A. Bent', regularly wrote from Spauldings, Clarendon. More recently, a converted Black Jamaican Jew originally from Clarendon, now in the U.S., sent me his leader's Ben Ammi's books in response to the column "Hebrew thought".
Moral rearmament
People have sent me every conceivable kind of document, invited me to a whole host of activities, asked me to join a whole bunch of organizations, but mostly, I have been asked to take up their troubles or pet issues. To most I have had to say a firm but polite no. Quite apart from the sheer impossibility in time and effort of adopting every cause, I have always felt that I am most free when I belong to the fewest number of things. Apart from church and family, I have not 'belonged' to anything longer than The Gleaner.
In one column I almost casually used the common phrase, "it is time for a moral rearmament", without any real knowledge of its origins. I ended up becoming a member of Moral Rearmament Jamaica through a reader's invitation, a membership which allowed me to work quite closely with Governor-General Sir Howard Cooke and many other interesting people. I have travelled to the MRA Centre at Caux in Switzerland and researched and written the MRA-influenced Walkerswood, St. Ann, story of community development. I have just had, on the strength of a recent column, an invitation from another organisation to join a group of selected thinkers to interact with the World Future Society.
The column has very strongly sought to be a problem-solving advocacy column. And this is one area in which I am very pleased with the wide-ranging results achieved.
Curious
People have always been curious about how a weekly column gets produced year after year after year. I am constantly thinking about what next. And by Monday evening, I must have a lock for that Thursday's column. I file everything that might be useful. And I have learned to use heavily my observations, experience, and background education to maximum advantage. Great blessings of the column have been the research it has engendered and the sharpening of observation as a source of material.
In the bad old days, I wrote by hand. But since the editorial people could not read my excellent handwriting, my wife would transcribe. Then I had to physically run the script down to North Street. We then progressed to faxing, word-processing, and emailing. Hurricanes Ivan and Dean took us back to the dark ages of writing by hand.
Over the years one of the most satisfying responses has been the commendations for balance and fairness. This has certainly made the brickbats more tolerable. To my amusement, people have tried to label me one political 'P' this week and the other 'P' next week. Colleges and schools, I know, have used the column, as good example, to teach thinking and writing. That has been a really big reward, especially since my core trades are education and communication.
For 20 years, I have had a good and productive relationship with a great newspaper, extending well beyond writing a weekly column. Writing energizes, clarifies, disciplines - and influences. And this column has been a great outlet for a natural talent and a strong interest.
Martin Henry is a communication specialist.