Why I Stopped Laughing at Charlie Sheen

From the desktop of Betsy Fast, DoSomething.org Editor in Chief:

You may or may not watch Two and a Half Men (I don't), or know much about its highly paid star, Charlie Sheen, but if you're at all a pop-culture lover (I am!), then you're aware Sheen's been in the news a lot lately. First because of some pretty scary-sounding drug and/or alcohol binges, and soon after because of his miraculous, almost-overnight recovery at home…under the care of two (really young-looking) blond girlfriends.

He's been on television almost non-stop, not on Two and a Half Men, of course (that was cancelled for the season due to his questionable health), but rather on morning and evening shows like ABC's Good Morning America and CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight. The clips are, for lack of a better word, crazypants. Sheen's angry, you see. He's pissed that his bosses have cancelled his hit show now that he's, um, clean, and he rants about how special he is. In his words, he's a "rock star from Mars" with "tiger blood" running through his veins. (Crazypants, I told you.) So I watched the clips online, and I laughed. It was a nervous, uncomfortable laugh, but a laugh nonetheless.

How could this guy talk about being underpaid when he makes just under $2 million dollars an episode? How could he cure himself and so quickly of what clearly sounds like severe drug addiction? Most importantly, how could he say things like "I have defeated this earthworm with my words—imagine what I would have done with my fire-breathing fists" and not give himself the giggles?

And then it hit me.

Duh, Betsy: He's sick. He may have more money than I will ever see, and he may be entitled and over-privileged and egotistical (and perhaps anti-Semitic—I didn’t mention those comments earlier—oy!) and all that.

But any guy who says and does the things he's doing is clearly unwell. Sure, I wish Sheen would cut back on the morning show appearances and start reaching out for assistance from outside, professional sources, but he’ll do whatever he’s going to do. Me, I should know better than to laugh, because I grew up around mental illness and my experience couldn’t have been less funny. So I’ll leave the Sheen-mocking and giggling to late-night talk show hosts—we all need to make a living—and keep busy doing what I do best: empowering young people to rock causes they care about here at DoSomething.org.

So who wants to tackle the issues of addiction and mental health?

• Follow these tips when reaching out to a friend or classmate who you think is in trouble.
• Help create vision boards for people in recovery.
• A person is more likely to seek help if he/she has been told about resources available. Promote the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number through social media or posting flyers.