I was in the waiting room of a lab this morning waiting to have my blood drawn. The TV was on and people were sitting in rows of chairs watching. You see, when you’re in a waiting room you get to watch TV whether you want to or not.
I don’t know the channel and I don’t know the show but this I do know: it was all about Charlie Sheen. The two ladies sitting to the left of me and the gentleman to the right were watching. I overheard one of the ladies say to the other, “What a shame.” I became curious.
“Why is Charlie Sheen such a big deal that he gets this much TV time and everyone seems to be so concerned about him?” I asked the ladies.
They were very happy to enlighten me. It seems that Charlie’s behavior affects his children AND it affects his co workers on his TV show in that as long as he is in (or not in, as the case may be) rehab, they are not working.
I told them I understood that and I also understand that there are thousands of little children in this world whose parents’ behavior affects them but no one seems to be so concerned about them that they get hours of TV time. I also told them that it is my opinion that his co workers KNEW up front what Charlie was like and yet chose to work with him. Is that Charlie’s fault? Show business is iffy at best.
Now I happen to believe that addiction is a disease and Charlie is diseased and that is a “shame” as the lady said, but certainly not worth hours of TV, newspaper and internet time.
The receptionist overheard our discussion and she said her niece died of an overdose of drugs and she didn’t get any TV or internet time. Come to think of it, neither did my sister.
I’m not saying Charlie doesn’t have a problem. Clearly he does. I am not making any judgments. I am just asking why is Charlie Sheen’s problem so important to the rest of the world.
