My son happened to notice a familiar face at an ATM. He lives in LA and has seen a glittering list of celebrities. He's worked in their homes installing sound systems, including Quincy Jones, Elizabeth Taylor, the president of Sony, the CEO of Disney. But this time he noticed Martin Sheen withdrawing a stack of twenties and palming them to the line of men waiting on a corner for a day's labor. He spoke quietly to each one. 

Lukas approached him, and expressed his appreciation for West Wing. Martin was friendly, and made sure the selfie they took worked, which the first time it didn't. Then he asked Lukas to meet him at the bookstore across the parking lot where he was signing copies of his recent biography. He autographed one for Lukas.

I ordered the book, and was moved to read about his social activism. Sheen has been arrested sixty six times for participating in marches to change things like the effects of pesticides on farm pickers, and genocide in Darfur, Consistent Life ethic, and wages for immigrants. He says that acting is what he does for a living, but activism is what keeps him alive. 

He and his wife Janet have been married for fifty seven years. They have weathered both poverty and wealth, family unity and sharp discord.  Catholicism is deeply embedded in Martin Sheen's moral compass, not simply from his days as an altar boy but in his compassion for those who suffer. He has known homelessness, and addiction, rejection, and racism. Life was not easy for him, but it sounds like he didn't expect it to be.