hey, charlie…

Dear Mr. Sheen,

Well, you really have been blowing up the airwaves recently. You seem to be quite busy with interviews and legal issues. And it goes without saying that television and radio personalities have been busy with the headlines you continue to create. With your unpredictable and often outright bizarre one-liners, you have become every comedian and newscaster’s dream.

But, Mr. Sheen, if you would allow me to be ever so blunt, I’m onto you. And I’m worried about you. And I’m sorry. I’m sorry that the media seems to be capitalizing on your presumed manic state and obvious addiction. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to reflect and recover when you’re constantly in the limelight. I’m sorry that you have become so jaded with the recovery community. Just this week, you laid out your plan of preventing a relapse:

“I just don’t do it. I will not believe that if I do something then I have to follow a certain path because it was written for normal people. People who aren’t special. People who don’t have tiger blood and Adonis DNA.”

Mr. Sheen, you may be wealthy and witty and famous, but in the world of addiction, I think there’s a pretty level playing ground. Tiger blood won’t cure cancer, nor will it cure an addiction. If you think that you can do this on your own, you’re deluding yourself. And you’re slowly killing yourself.

I am so, so sorry for your friends and family. I know you can’t possibly comprehend the pain your addiction is causing them right now. The anxiety. The sleepless nights. The pain in coming to terms with dashed dreams. I know that’s not your fault- it’s the addiction that blinds you. But, Mr. Sheen, I urge you to consider your parents, siblings, and children. Consider them as you choose to accept or refuse recovery.

Finally, I’m sorry that the American culture has sold you a cheapened idea of what life is supposed to be about. “It’s all about me, me, me,” we hear. And you seem to have bought it. In interview after interview, it is abundantly clear that your universe spins around you. You preach the gospel of Charlie Sheen, but I’m wondering what you think of that gospel as you watch the little kingdom you have built yourself crumbling down all around you. Even if you are not in the mental state to see this right now, I see it. So do others. Thank you for being a reminder to me that my existence must be centered around God. The only God. Creator. Sustainer. Provider. Healer.

This life is not about me. Nor is it about you. I hope and pray that you would comprehend this and live by this. That the realization would rock you to the core, as it has to me.

Best wishes, Mr. Sheen.