Growing up Charlie Sheen was something of an on screen icon to me. His portrayal of roles in movies such as Young Guns and Platoon made him a man that we all wanted to follow in the playground when we were playing “Action Hero’s”. Back then we had no idea who Charlie Sheen the man was, we were just young children who encapsulated ourselves in the characters he played.
Fast forward two decades and Charlie Sheen is in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. His conduct has landed him in serious problems with the law and you have to ask if his celebrity status is keeping him out of a custodial sentence. As I type this blog Sheen is currently in rehab at his Los Angeles home but my thoughts on this are is he enjoying himself or on a path of total self-destruction?
As any man I want to unwind after a hard week at work. I’ll get some beers or spirits and relax watching a movie or two to compose myself and get my mind off of the pressures that the world has on me. To those in sobriety they will look at my beer purchasing and say “Wow that guy drinks a lot”, yet to those who visit the bar as much as my friends do I have the exact same conclusion. Now I have always said that what we do in our own time is our own business. If Charlie Sheen is not doing anything to break LA laws then are we truly in a position to overlook?
To some his indulgence in alcohol and drugs would seem more than excessive but it is his way or shutting off from the outside world and escaping into a place where he feels comfortable. What he does behind closed doors is his business alone and just because he is in the public eye does not necessarily mean that his personal life is any worse than yours, mine or our neighbours. In fact I know people in a far worse situation.
Fame brings a closer level of scrutiny on what people who are famous can do. Sometimes they cannot even walk a dog without being hounded by the press and it’s that reason alone that I do feel a certain degree of empathy with the likes of Sheen. I certainly don’t agree with his drug taking or indulgence of prostitution but if what he is only harming himself then I think the press need to lay off his case and go on with reporting more fundamental issues in the world.
I can remember the days when hell raisers like Sheen were viewed as, much like my childhood, something of an iconic status and not plastered on any website and gutter level tabloid in existence. I question how the likes of Elvis, Cobain and Hendrix would have been portrayed if they were alive in the days of the Internet.
Sheen needs to wise up or he will end up in a remarkably early grave that much is for sure. For all those who knock him I say firstly take a look at your own life and begin to examine that before you question the life of someone you don’t know. A man whose only private insight we see is from third party sources.
Get well soon Charlie.
