To get an earful of an unpalatable fact

Usually, present ills are blamed - rightly or fancifully - on past actions. In the case of countries and their politics, the original sin usually falls at the door of previous governments, or figures like the 'neelkanth' (the absorber of poisons) of our times, Jawaharlal Nehru. For individuals, the pattern is similar, with people from one's past - in family, educational or professional environments - usually blamed. But what happens when the source of a problem stems from the fault of one's own? And that, too, when one's fault is clearly in the know and there is no room for buck-passing?

Take Wallace Lee, a resident of Dorset in Britain, who for the last five years was deaf. The cause of his deafness was thought to be linked to his career in the loud aviation industry, or to some old rugby injury. Recently, after spotting a white object in his ear courtesy of a home endoscope kit, he decided to visit a doctor. Lee literally gave the doc an earful, as it turned out that for the past five years, part of an earbud was lodged inside his ear obstructing his hearing. The professional extrication of the foreign object by a pair of mini-tweezers later, Lee could hear again - the first thing being that it was his fault that he had gone deaf for half a decade. Moral of the story: think hard and remember, before you start blaming others for your problems.