It started with a project, a project for my [Flen 201] Sophomore English course, in which our instructor asked us to write about people we believed has influenced our lives in a good way-folks we consider our heroes. That’s when “Endu” (aka Artist Comedian Lemenih / Limeneh / Limenh / Limenih Tadesse), popped into my head. There’s never been another hero for me-another genius, another comic, another uncle. He is the one who told me not to hate without reason and never to utter judgement without understanding. I was 13 when he, excitedly, told me about “Krishna”, “truth”, “beauty” and “soul” — concepts too complicated for me to understand but too exotic to resist. He showed me how to hold onto my values/my individuality in the face of conventionality and how to be kind and trusting under abuse [so many abuse]. He run from fights, cried over poetry and laughed for the make-believe “dramas” my cousins performed at home-for his benefit. Exotic as his words, he’s always been my hero, not just because he could make me laugh, but because he was the sort of man a child should model herself after. “My uncle, my hero” was the title of the essay!
Herebelow are some pictures i found of him. Place the pointer on top of the pictures to read their description.
