Why Not Me?

FINESSING LIFE'S SLINGS AND ARROWS

Rev. Donald H. Wheat

Why Not Me book cover

Why Not Me?

Finessing Life's Slings and Arrows
Rev. Donald H. Wheat

The 40 short essays in Why Not Me? show how to live a fulfilling, meaningful life in a universe that wasn’t designed to ensure human happiness. A common response to tragedy is, "Why me?" Ironically, those who grasp that unfairness and misfortune are inevitable parts of life often experience more gratitude and happiness for the many good things that do come their way.

In clear, accessible words, Rev. Donald Wheat unfolds his humanist philosophy. The book draws psychological, political, ecological and comedic insights from such varied individuals as Malcolm X and Malcolm McDowell, Friedrich Nietzsche and Fredrick Douglass, Karl Marx and Carl Sagan, Emily Dickinson and Oscar Wilde, W.H. Auden and M.L. King, George Carlin and Cornel West, Mahatma Gandhi and Ken Kesey, Simon Wiesenthal and Maureen Dowd, and Margaret Sanger and Lenny Bruce.

The best revenge for an often-unfair life is to live fully and courageously, nurturing others and promoting justice. "If no one is looking after us,” Wheat concludes, “then we must look after each other. We have resolved to be more just and more loving than what has been given to us. This is man's greatness. And it is enough."

About the Author

Rev. Donald H. Wheat was born in Dayton, Ohio to William and Frances Wheat on Halloween 1933. In 1955 he graduated from Hiram College and married Ann Warren Wheat in Leipsic, Ohio. He graduated from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1958. After serving Christian Churches in Rensselaer, Indiana and Oak Park, Illinois, Don found his philosophical home at Third Unitarian Church of Chicago. He served there from 1969 to 1996 (apart from brief stints at First Unitarian of Albany, New York, and heading a Chicago-area community center). He retired to South Haven, Michigan, where Ann Wheat died in 2015. Third Church’s annual Wheat Lecture is named for its minister emeritus.

Donald H. Wheat