The Power of Determination

By Dr. Cleve "Stitchie" Laing

I commend this message and this book to parents looking for material that can inspire their children to strive onwards and upwards, as well as schools, social agencies and adults who need a gush of wind to refloat frustrated wings.
The Most Hon. Edward Seaga
Former Prime Minister of Jamaica.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 27, 2015
• ISBN: 9780983819349

Book preview

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OVERVIEW 1

This book should eventually become a must read for all young Jamaicans from the inner-city communities who are at the crucial stage of life when they face their fork in the road.

Basically, an autobiography of Cleve Stitchie Laing’s life, it is set against the backdrop of life in these communities in the 1970s and 1980s and the environment in which so many of our young, poor, under-privilege youths are still forced to create their own routes for upward mobility.

Like most children in these communities, Stitchie grew up without the support of a father. In fact, in the book he makes the credulous remark that, I had no father.

But like most inner-city boys, he had a mother, Imogene Blake, who actually fathered him and his siblings.

She displayed the perpetual, womanly smile even while she Would mend the fence, dig holes, plant fence posts and run the barb wire.

His early life was set against a period of tremendous political, social and even economic upheaval in the country, which greatly affected life in his semi-rural community of St. John’s Road, Spanish Town, St. Catherine.

This is where many residents of urban communities, like Trench Town and Tavares Gardens (Payneland), fled during the political violence of the seventies characterized by the division of the nation into those who supported socialism and those who were for private enterprise.

The result was that the rural characteristic of the community was completely changed to reflect the totally urban culture of the new arrivals, and Spanish Town, overnight, had a transition from its usual sleepiness to acquire the vibrancy of a city without the physical, economic or social infrastructure to sustain it.

A victim of this sudden change, Stitchie was fortunate to have relatives and neighbors who believe in the African adage – It takes a village to raise a child. This gave him the strength to overcome the many pitfalls which developed and to eventually emerge as one of Jamaica’s best known dance-hall entertainers. Fortunately for him, too, he was multi-talented.

He could have been a top sprinter, having clocked 10.6 seconds in the 100 meters while at Tivoli Gardens High; he could have been a Coach, having excelled at the G.C. Foster College; and he could have been a Teacher, having started out in that profession after his tertiary training.

But, it seems his course, was charted by the hand of God. It led him to the international fame as Deejay/Rapper and eventually to God, after a series of near-death experiences.

After making the most serious decision of his life in 1997 at Reggae Sumfest, when he opted to drop his lucrative secular music career to serve God through his ministry and music, he went through a period of economic decline. But he, eventually, recovered and is now, as he proclaims, "An

Ambassador for Christ…determined to spread the message of the Kingdom of God through music, literature, the spoken Word…"

Stitchie states in the book, I most definitely believe that we can achieve anything we set our mind to.

I commend this message and this book to parents looking for material that can inspire their children to strive onwards and upwards, as well as schools, social agencies and adults who need a gush of wind to refloat frustrated wings.

The Most Hon. Edward Seaga

FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF JAMAICA.

OVERVIEW 2

I was not surprised by the title that Stitchie chose for his autobiography – The Power of Determination.

Stitchie’s whole life has been an example of the resilience of our young people and the determination of many of those from the inner-cities to step up from poverty to a life of independence.

My relationship with him goes way back to a time when the culture of the Jamaican inner-city was much less influenced by guns and drugs, and in which the structure of life was built around the family and strongly influenced by moral and religious considerations.

Although we have taken different routes to success, we have always shared the same basic concepts of loyalty to family and community, observance of high moral principles, commitment to hard work to achieve our ambitions and honesty in our dealings with others.

Despite the fact that I have risen to the position of Mayor of the City of Kingston, I still believe that Stitchie’s story is a much more remarkable one and obviously far more interesting to readers.

Having risen from poverty to fame and fortune, as one of the most successful Dancehall Deejays Jamaican music has ever produced, Stitchie went on to shock the society by his sudden and dramatic transformation to Christianity.

I consider myself a Christian and I have always promoted the importance of religious obligations, but Stitchie has made his religion an even more significant feature of his life by becoming a Gospel Artiste, Minister and a virtual religious icon.

His mission now is to win souls for Christ, and he uses this gift of God and his tremendous stage personality to enhance his work in this area of great effect.

In this transformation, he has moved from providing joy for the body to providing joy for the soul. In today’s world, we need all the good role models we can find.

The Jamaican society, for example, has moved culturally from one extreme to another: once a society which upheld the highest moral and social standards, we have watched it slowly degenerated to the level where, in many communities, it is the drug traffickers and gang leaders who have become the models of success.

This is certainly not a uniquely Jamaican situation, because we have seen similar development especially in inner-city areas, right across the globe.

But, Stitchie has emerged, especially in the Jamaican context, as one of the most significant role models of his generation. By becoming a Christian, he gave up very lucrative entertainment contracts, shows and the culture of flaunting wealth and women which goes with it, to focus on inner peace, devotion to God and living a wholesome and fruitful life.

We who were devoted to his music are still loyal to him because, despite the transformation he still remains loyal to the principles of good music and lyrics which will continue to be a challenge to younger entertainers seeking a role model to follow.

As a person he still exudes the charm, warmth and social sensibilities which made him such a hero of inner-city youths in his earlier life.

This book is not only valuable for its honesty and clarity, but also for the moral values that it promotes and the basic social values that it exemplifies.

As a Jamaican who has traveled a route not very dissimilar to Stitchie’s, I welcome his portrayal of our generation as one which continues to produce people of good moral stock and exemplary behavior.

I believe that it should be a must read for all people who still adhered to those standards and who hold steadfastly to the view that all is not lost and that there is hope for a world which is being battered by the harsh economic realities of globalization, and the growing fear of a disintegration of the social and moral fabric.

Stitchie I believe you have done us the world of good by embarking on this project and seeing it to completion.

I am confident that it will attract an unbelievable level of interest and exert tremendous influence on a flattering number of people.

I share your expectancy and your exuberance and look forward to its launch and its eventual success.

Desmond A. A. McKenzie, J.P. and Member of Parliament for Western Kingston

INTRODUCTION

I made a spectacular entrance, yes! Me, one of God’s many gifts to Miss Imo, and I started writing. I was writing my way into the history book of life, even though I was unaware of this, while I was in the Doctor’s hands, as he signaled the imminence of my royal entry to Mama, proclaiming that she had a King, Cleve Aman Laing. I had the intestinal fortitude to overcome the hurdles that were camouflaged on the meandering road of life. And so this is a documentation of the first phase.

Inscribing into the islands of the entire Caribbean region, through the national pages of the Jamaica Journal, I was demonstrating my unique penmanship on the heart of a people, as the son of the soil that would fly the colors of Black, Gold, and Green with integrity and great pride at home and abroad. I was writing my name from the legacy inherited from our African fore-parents in the drum and bass of the pulsating reggae music globally.

I was writing my life with the precision of a surgeon: yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, hourly, and minutely; and every second counted. Simultaneously, I was influencing chapters, stanzas and lines in other people’s lives. So I was divinely entrusted, even before I was aware of it, with the responsibility to write legibly.

All things being considered, I sleep well, whenever I choose to retire to bed, with all confidence that I did write to the best of my ability, I am still writing, and I am determined to continue, as there is always room for improvement.

I am content with the truth that we may not all be on the same page or even in the same book, but one thing is certain and that is we all share space in the same library of life. It is interesting to note that what we write of our lives will most definitely determine the section in which we choose to be placed. It is indeed a choice that we all have and are entitled to.

So I made mine when I chose to pattern the lifestyle and principles of the most determined Person that I know to ever walk the face of this earth, Jesus the Christ. Hence my motive in writing this book is that I may stand as a witness, representing the fruit of determination, to encourage all to realize that their future is within them.

Their potential and visions can be realized, and all the resources to bring them to manifestation are already here on earth. We only have to unleash THE POWER OF DETERMINATION.

Chapter 1

WHERE THE FEET MEET THE