I am reading Edwige Danticat. Her recent memoir “Brother, I’m dying” is amazing. She tells her family story in poignant way. She combines her story with the story of her dad, her uncle, her countries, her travels, her neighborhood, her grandmas.to free herself, and to free us as well to tell our own story, and to live the life we want.
She used the power of words to include folktales, stories that she heard from her parents to make good learning lessons from life.
“Hell” is one of those stories told by Danticat’s Granmè Melina.
Here is the story. Enjoy… And share with friends, fans, and family.
A man, one day fell asleep and woke up in a foreign land where he knew no one and no one knew him. Finding himself on his back in the middle of a dirt road, filled with strangers, he looked up at the blurry faces around him, which were framed by a gloomy gray sky, and asked, “Where am I?”
“You’re where you are,” answered a booming voice.
“Where’s that?” he asked.
“Where you need to be,” replied the voice.
“I din’t ask to be here,” the man said, “wherever it is.”
“No matter how you ended up here,” said the voice, “here you are.”
Tired about the roundabout conversation, the man said, “I want you to tell me right now where I am. If you don’t, I’m going to be angry.”
“Who cares about your anger?” answered the voice. “No one is scared of you here.”
Truly upset now, the man said, “Tell me where I am right now!”
“You are in Hell,” replied the voice.
And since these were long time ago, the man didn’t know what hell was, even though he could already see that it was not a happy place.
“What is hell?” he asked.
“Hell”, replied the voice, “is whatever you fear most.”
A story told by Edwige Dandicat in “Brother, I’m dying.” Thanks again Edwige to share with us the power of words and storytelling.
Roosevelt Jean-Francois
Fulbright Scholar, Connector, Speaker
rooseveltjeanfrancois 
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