There was an elderly man who had big grey beard, big moustache and a lot of hair on his face. It didn't come in the way of his eating and drinking, and was quite happy about his life and style.

One day when his grand daughter came home, she looked at him and said Grandpa, "You look so scary and I wonder how you must be eating and drinking. Every time you have to move the hair from the front of your mouth and then eat or drink. Will that not be uncomfortable."

The Old man heard this and defended himself stoutly and said, "I've had this for years and it has never bothered me at all. It will not either."

Late in the evening when supper time approached the old man's wife brought him the soup as she usually does. The old man took the spoon and tried to eat the soup, and remembered what his grandchild said. That was enough he was struggling to have his soup, He spilled it all over, and messed it up. His wife asked him what is happening to him, and he said, "no nothing at all everything is as usual."

Next his wife brought him the meal. And the old man was struggling to eat. He kept toying with his food, Would take it to his mouth and struggle and then put it back on the plate. He couldn't eat it.

His wife again asked him what was wrong and if everything was alright, and the old man in his usual style said yes everything is alright. But actually speaking he had become a victim of his own conscience.

As long as he was within himself it was fine. Just as the grandchild drew his attention to the beard, he became conscious of it, and there after it wasn't the same. He not only became aware of his fully grown beard, but it had also started becoming a hindrance. He was advised to shave off, and with a lot of pleas he conceded and then chopped it off. After that too he was not his usual, he wouldn't eat or sleep thinking of the lost beard, and that his looks were sort of shrunken.

Moral : Let things that are said by someone else not affect you.