In 2011, we've watched Lindsay Lohan, Charlie Sheen, Senator Andrew Weiner and Amy Winehouse (among others) turn fast-paced careers into train wrecks.
Winehouse's problems with drug and alcohol abuse, violence and other self-destructive behavior were regular tabloid fodder and the subject of public scorn until her death July 23, 2011.
I wonder if she would have died so young if her personal indiscretions didn’t become international news.
It pains me to see artists, who create perhaps the highest form of human expression through their craft, derail their careers and their ability to do what they do best. Their contributions serve the greater good of all in the form of beauty, entertainment and inspiration.
We don't realize that for many, the greater the success the more pressure there is to stay on top in everything done or said.
Such near perfection is an impossible achievement and it leaves very little room to grow or create -- the very things that drive the human spirit. This is perhaps why once celebrities hit their peak, their encore is too often a relationship disaster, financial or legal problems or a health issue that could have easily been avoided.
To add insult to such personal injury the public loves to point fingers, ridicule and delight in the downfall of a high-profile person.
Like a line dance at a drunken wedding, we love to jump in on the Shadenfreude travesty. We laugh and strut like peacocks with the feeling of our own superiority.
After all, if those who have the multi-million dollar homes, wildly successful careers and dream relationships screw up their lives then we can feel better about ourselves, our life and competence.
Recently Sheen hosted the annual Gathering of the Juggalos, an event hosted for horror-rap duo Insane Clown Posse’s infamously rowdy fans. Audience members jeered and threw alls kinds of stuff at him during the festival. It’s interesting to me how these angry people don’t like the pissed off person in Sheen.
Celebrities aren't the only ones to self-sabotage. We all do from time to time in one way or another. We get in our own way. We miss or mismanage our opportunities. We make a woefully misguided decision that results in an awful outcome. And we get to behave this way in private.
TMZ is not interested in what someone who isn't newsworthy has to say or do. The public isn't interested either. We expect 'normal' people to screw up because we screw up.
Compassion, the recognition of a common denominator between people, is the key to mitigating self-sabotage on any level.
In a compassionate world there isn't a gut wrenching fear of not being good, worthy or talented enough. There's no self-fulfilling prophecy of being judged, criticized or shamed.
We recognize that each and every one of us is doing the best he or she can with the light we have to see.
