How Charlie Sheen Could Destroy This Country

I’m straying far from the topic of writing for this post.  But who am I to not use this skill that I’m working so hard to develop to call attention this issue. So, this is a “Call to Action” if you will for my fellow countrymen.

I have figured out the core problem in this country and Yahoo – with all their investigative talents – were the ones to reveal it.  Our problem is Charlie Sheen.  Sure, you will argue that Charlie has his own problems, why would I want to dump the country’s on him as well.  I’m not really trying to point a finger and say, “He did it!” Let me back up a ways.

Back in the 50’s we had Ozzie and Harriet and Father Knows Best.  Women vacuumed in heels and pearls and men wore hats they could tip in a friendly greeting to a passing stranger.

In the 60’s we graduated to My Three Sons. Very liberated, a single father raising his sons with only help of the crusty ole male housekeeper.  But the boys wore button down shirts with slacks and said things like, “Gee.”

Those days our culture wasn’t perfect, but our country was growing and innovating. We were proud to be Americans because of what we were achieving and because of our leadership within the world culture.

Now we love shows like Family Guy. I’m not even sure if women vacuum at all anymore (or perhaps that’s just me). Many men don’t own a dress shirt, let alone a suit and our young men are forced to walk like they suffer from a major hernia just to keep their pants from slipping beyond their hips.

Charlie Sheen and his co-star, the teenager, Angus Jones, are the highest paid sitcom actors on television today.  Their characters are as broken as they come.  Sarcastic, disrespectful, and rude.  And, Charlie Sheen, himself has checked into rehab again, while they put the show on hiatus so that he can try to deal with his issues.  I respect that he is again attempting to fix what is wrong in his life, but I don’t respect that the people who live in this country value his skills of being able to act like a jerk (which doesn’t seem like much of an act if the tabloid news has so much to say about him) above all others.

I feel our country is a shadow of its former self.  Now we are proud to be Americans because we aren’t doing worse than those other countries. We used to be able to do things like the space program that our President eluded to in the State of the Union address the other night. We used to morn the loss of large corporations by letting them come to their natural and final end instead of trying to stitch back on an amputated limb and wondering why it doesn’t function. We would recognize the great losses our country was experiencing by creating large national projects, like “Employ tons of Americans by making all cities in excess of a million people wireless by 2014.”  Would it cost the country money?  Yes. But would it create actual jobs in many levels of the industry in order to accomplish a project that will help our country be better in the long run. Well, I think so.

Do I blame our current administration? No, not really.  I blame us. I blame you and me and my mail person and my bank teller and the guy who answered my Google Ads inquiry.  I blame anyone who has laughed at the caustic jokes on shows like Two and a Half Men, Family Guy, The Simpsons, Rosanne, All In The Family.  I blame those of us who start to let the caustic invade our values. Those of us who give in to defeat or fatigue in an argument over right and wrong instead of sucking it up a little longer and finding it in us to make the right choice and not compromise our values.  I blame fast food and debit cards and cell phones and email. And I kinda blame Charlie Sheen. At least what he represents. He represents the weakness within us and how we have allowed it to permeate our actions each and every day. Sorry Charlie.

My “Call to Action” from this post: tip your hat. Wear button down shirts and tuck them in. Shovel your neighbor’s driveway. Identify a more worthy hero. Define their heroism. Let those traits invade your day-to-day decisions. Be the example for Charlie Sheen, our current and future administrations and most importantly each other. Take your country back through thorough and consistent good will.

I’m Proud to Be American, because you know what? Yes, We REALLY Can! After all, we’ve done it before.

Comments

  1. Thank you, Paula, for posting this thoughtful blog! It's very refreshing to see a post like this from one of my dear friends. I agree with you 100% and dream of a day that we will turn off Jersey Shore and Entertainment Tonight and pull ourselves away from our technology and return to a simpler time when people talked to each other, helped and respected one another and valued integrity, hard work, intelligence and goodness. Our government is just a reflection of us and how we have seemingly made a pact with the Devil. We traded our core values for "The Good Life". HA! Boy, are we getting screwed!

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  2. Oh my gosh, unplugging from technology is going a bit too far! Just kidding. Perhaps balancing our time better so there is more personal contact is, indeed, a wise approach. Thanks for stopping by Erin.

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