"Mabel, maybe you should stop drinking so much."
"Sam Clemens! You just don't know me any more.
Five years ago I got religion,
and I haven't touched a drop since."
"Well, Mabel, why don't you stop smoking?"
"Sam. How long's it been since you seen me?
I stopped smokin' afore I stopped drinkin'."
"Hmmm. Well, the least you can do
is to stop cussin' so much."
"Sam. A swear word hasn't passed my lips
since I got religion."
Twain faces the audience:
"There she was, folks.
Like a sinking ship
with no baggage to throw overboard."
- Mark Twain,
after visiting his very sick friend Mabel
in the hospital

When things go wrong, some people refuse to accept the blame or to consider themselves to be at fault. They prefer to blame external factors, forces, people, situations, or circumstances.

In extreme cases we may deny that there is a problem. In other cases, we may try to reduce the reasons for its severity or as for our involvement by assigning the blame elsewhere so that fingers are not pointed at us.

There is an expression that when you point a finger at somebody you point three fingers at yourself. This means that the very fact that you need to blame somebody else points three fingers at yourself. After all, people who are not involved in a situation do not need to blame.

Government and politicians are filled with people who blame others. United States President Harry S Truman was a very notable exception. He used to have a sign on his desk to remind him of his position in society. It said very simply: “The buck stops here.” He has nobody to blame. As president, he could not kick the blame higher.

But such is not the case with the rest of us. We may assign blame to others.

Why do we do it? How are we taught to do it? What are the precedents to this blaming? How does it affect us? How does it prevent us from becoming better individuals? These and other questions are answered in this series.