# Hägar: 'Why me?' — 'Why not!'

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-hagar-why-me-why-not
- Themes: acceptance, humour, suffering
- Life situations: illness, loneliness, feeling unfairly treated

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

In a Hägar the Horrible cartoon, Hägar is shipwrecked on an island in a storm. He looks up at the sky: 'God! Why me?' And God roars back: 'Why not!'

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

I got that from a cartoon once. Hägar the Horrible, do you know Hägar the Horrible? He got great cartoons. He was shipwrecked on an island. Shipwrecked, storm and he looked up in the sky and he said: "God! Why me?" And God roared back "Why not!"

## Teaching point

When life asks 'why me?' — cancer, loneliness, hard work — the honest answer is 'why not?'

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

Shipwrecked in a storm, Hägar the Horrible shouts at the sky: why me? And God roars back: why not! Ajahn Brahm prefers cartoons to philosophy books. Snoopy adds another: yes, one day we'll die, but on most days we won't. When trouble comes, why not me? And enjoy all the days you're well.

## Source

- [Contentment | Ajahn Brahm | 11 Mar 2016](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_Sd2HpnpBU) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 45:26 to 45:47: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_Sd2HpnpBU&t=2726s