OK, for the record: I don't think people who are sick, depressed, discouraged, or need to share their burdens are whiners, wimps, or sissies.

And I don't think that people who put on their big girl panties and do what has to get done are martyrs. God bless them! When my Dad (who had MS) stopped driving, he WALKED the mile and a half each way to work, summer and winter, and never took a sick day, because you do what you have to do. But he didn't take an attitude about it.

The "martyrs" I'm talking about make a not-so-subtle point with their attitudes that "....and so would YOU, if you weren't a whiner wimp sissy."

You know, like Ida Morgenstern on TV: "No, no, you all go and have a good time, I'll be fine here alone scrubbing the ceiling with a toothbrush. If it flares up again (cough, cough, wince) I'll just call an ambulance or something."

There's a huge difference between the people I admire who just keep plugging along with a cheerful (or at least philosophical) attitude, and those who paste on a phony smile, heave a pathetic little sigh, and say "No, no, don't feel bad about not helping. You just stay home and...rest. The swelling has almost gone down around my incision anyway."