The blog takes the form of the third Trini to D Bone feature that appears in today's (Monday) Guardian. This version is half again as long as the paper's; and this guy is worth a few more words. What doesn't come across in print as plainly as in speech  is his sincerity.

Big Union Man

 My name is Hugh Springer and I am the assistant secretary of a local trade union. They call me, “Comrade Hulk”.

 I’m a born, bred Trini and a

 I don’t come from a big family: grandparents, two children, my Mum, three, and she has four sisters. So “The Waltons” isn’t our size. We small. But strong still.

 I don’t have a family myself. No children. I was in a relationship some years ago, the lady I thought I would have married and, during that time, I realized how heavy it is. Is serious time and energy. If you don’t have time, leave the people’ girl children alone. This is the person whose bad habits you going to have to put up with. They going to see your faults. This is who you going and cry in front of. This is the person you have to be prepared to give your life for. That don’t just come with a hold-hand. So, if you don’t want to swim deep, stay on the shore.

 I have heard ten couples speak of marriage as something they enjoy. Ten! I have had married couples tell me, “If you could make it single, don’t get married!” They make marriage sound like a duty: it tedious; it burdensome. A female pastor once told me, if I had to say, “I wish I was married” or, “I wish I wasn’t married!”, is best I say I wish I was. If a female could tell me that, I running with that advice. I’m not pessimistic but I’m very careful.

 I went to Tunapuna Boys’ RC, into Tunapuna Sec. The most prestigious school on the East-West Corridor. After that, as they say, I ‘tersh up’ my tertiary with some courses: philosophy, theology, communications, little PR.

I read endlessly. A lot of biography and non-fiction. My fiction is limited to Louis L’Amour, a few Westerns, and one book by Donald Joseph, The Glory. And VS, in school.

 I LOVED school. A lot of my friends from primary school are still friends to this day. I go by them, they come by me. I have people in my life who know me from a little boy.

 I left Tunapuna Sec in ’88 but never stopped going. I pioneered the ‘Big Brother’ programme at the school. I tell the youths they must have that boast: you have somebody in your life more than ten years, more than 15 years. That very important to me. I different. I very different. I’s the weird one. But I loving it.

 From primary school, I was always bigger than everybody else. In standard one, teachers beat me for being outside of my class, thinking I in standard four. I crying, trying to explain to them, “But Sir, I…” And when my teacher come looking, “What you doing here?” “But, Miss, he beat me already!”

 It changes your life when you’re bigger than everyone else. I was immature so, for a short while, I was a bully. It had a guy I hit just because I could have. I take basket as a youth – “Bet you can’t hit him!” And I hit that youth real hard. I met him years after as teenagers and I apologized.

 In my time, because of my size, I have bought a lot of fights. I get to hate advantage. I get to hate oppression. I have a serious allergic reaction to wickedness.

 What comes with the territory of size – and I don’t argue if it’s fair, I just acknowledge that it’s there – is that, somehow, when people in trouble, they look to you. You could be the biggest fool on the planet but, because of your size, they just turn to you.

 A lot of youths meet me and say, “Sir, thanks, I was going astray and you talk to me”. I give God thanks for that. Nobody ever talked to me.

 I didn’t have it exactly straight growing up. My old man died when I was five. My Mom left me with my grandmother. And my grandmother was old school superstitious. You want to go by somebody but, according to my grandmother, is what spirit in that house. You walk so, it have a demon on that side. So I grew up with a lot of fear. Right now, fear and ignorance don’t exist within me. It very pathetic. It holds you back a lot.

 I get my breakthrough in studying philosophy and theology and seeing that there is a god.

 One time, I lifted a barrel to throw it over a 15-foot wall, to avoid walking around. It fell back. Fellas started to laugh: “You feel you is Hulk!” So, you know, ego. I take it up a second time and kinda growl and throw it, and it clear the 15 feet, men had to run. After that, it was, “All right, Hulk!”

 I have no religion. I believe Jesus the Christ is God. I don’t argue with anybody about it. Christians talk shallow for me. They’ll say not to steal is a Biblical thing. No. I know people who don’t believe in the Bible that don’t steal. So is a divine principle. Don’t come to me with a ‘religious’ argument. Religion is man’ attempt. Man make it, man could break it. And it flawed.

 I eat at Divali with my friend, Vishnu. He has proven his heart, to me, is pure. So I will eat anything he bring for me. The only problem is not if it have demons, but if it have pepper.

 I see African girls with East Indian boyfriends, East Indian girls with African boyfriends. Now I not naïve: it have some clowns on both sides. The black man, the white man, the Indian with the straight hair, stick with your own! But it’s not as strong as the politicians would look to push it. When somebody treating you right, how important is their hair texture?

 I play basketball, Macoya Forum, used to play with Clico Pioneers, represent Tunapuna to the fullest. I coached St Agustine to the finals twice. Growing up, I played rugby with Roebucks. I represent the country at regional and international sevens. Also in boxing.

 I real play sports. But let we don’t talk West Indies cricket.

 We, as West Indians, reach a level and plateau out. West Indies players, reaching the team is the ultimate goal. They making plenty money whilst letting us down. I don’t want to stray into the Sports section but, when you pick your West Indies team, have a second team on standby. As a man slip, replace. Is not friends.

 Even before I became a trade unionist, a cigarette company attempted to sponsor a youth cricket team in Tunapuna. I ripped down every poster, broad daylight, and told them straight: no cigarette company supposed to sponsor sports.

 With our union, an assistant secretary will take notes at meetings, deal with the finances. It’s a kind of Marxist secretary role.

I came to trade unionism because I hate injustice.

Everybody was on the anti-Patrick Manning. All right. We get him out. But when you listen to some of this present government talking. Jack Warner was blatant to tell people, if you ent voting for us, you have to stay in the back. Until somebody steps up to change the system, all we going to do is deteriorate.

On the block we talk: with the PNM, it was the Italians, the Gambinos. With the UNC, is the Irish mob. Which mob you rather work for?

I’m totally against this “Ministry of the People”. All the ministries is for the people. So you just put an infrastructure that separate me from reaching the ministry!

The good thing about the job is you get victories. One sister comrade was fired wrongfully and, after four years off the job, the payment they had to hand that sister, with a promotion, I celebrate as if I get the money. When you see managers bullying an employee and you walk in the room, and the whole atmosphere change, that good, too.

The bad thing about the job is, as with all things in Trinidad, the politics involved. If management coming against me, I am not surprised. When your own coming against you internally, that does hurt me.

A lot of times, bosses, employers are not human resource-oriented; they are business, profit/loss-oriented. So they already have tunnel vision: “I want a million dollars. I need people to attain that. Get some people, please.” Full stop. The union is HR. If I am contributing a million dollars to you, you need to treat me like the asset that I am.

A Trini is the most relaxed individual on the planet. A truck will run you over. Word pass: “Fred get knocked down”. Everybody will come to the hospital. Is a truck hit Fred, Fred string up. You want to hear the Trini in that? When everybody realise you getting better, hear what they asking: “Fred, how the hell you could get hit by a truck? You was on the phone? You wanted to pee? Fred, a truck, boy? Fred, you didn’t see a Mini pass before? You couldn’t walk in front the Mini?” That’s a Trini.

Trinidad & Tobago is the most naturally resourceful strip of land on the planet. Sadly, it is being underutilized because we don’t have a proper leadership to manage it.