Thank you so much for the message sunday. It was very timely for me-not only men have a problem with work identification these days. Not only do I aske what a person does for a living, I gauge how much they make in comparison to me. I am not interested in the money as a spendable commodity as much as it represents a level of achievement. So, say you are a lawyer, I’ll want to know what kind of a lawyer to determine the income level. A legal aid lawyer is not as successful as a high-profile corporate lawyer. Now, I am a Nurse Practitioner and work in a non-profit clinic. I mentor Nurse Practitioner students and some residents and when they go into the commercial world and start at more than what I make after practicing for several years, I struggle with (arrggh) jealousy. Yet, I love my job and can’t see myself anywhere else right now. Actually, my goal in life was to become a Nurse Practitioner (physician before that but why I did not become one is another story )specifically to work with those underpriviledged or uninsured. So I have to talk myself down and then I’m ok again; for awhile; until I hear someone else’s salary for doing something frivolous; like; dermatology. It is a burden! Worse yet, (the snob factor)for the longest I could not understand how anyone could feel happiness if they were not going to or had completed college and working at a successful job or if their kids weren’t college bound or if they, well, you must get the picture. However, I meet people daily, at the clinic, who are working hard, making hardly a living, content that their children are healthy and fed, and very well adjusted. Probably more so than myself. Worse yet, (Keith Oberlin’s worse, worser, worsest)I’ve treated people for a couple of years who are on the lowest end of the socio-economic ladder and find out that their children are college grads with very successful careers. Who would’ve known!(Then I think differently of them)I’ve been rethinking my motive as to why I practice where I do. Was it really God’s calling or a way to feel smug among people: 1: less off than myself 2: those cohorts who choose-in my opinion-a career path less righteous. Is there a little pharisee in all of this? Help!! I shouldn’t have listened to your message Sunday. It’s all your fault. Penny Downer

It’s been a good year for Pittsburgh sports. Go Pens!