THROUGH MY EYES -- Ron Davis

Those of us who have watched the Huntington Beach City Council meetings

for the past couple of years couldn’t help but notice some of the

personalities who voice their opinions during the public comments portion

of the agenda.

Virginia Sims, sometimes adorned in a firefighter’s helmet, is one of

those personalities who has spoken passionately on behalf of the

firefighters in this city.

Virginia hasn’t just confined herself to firefighter concerns, but

assailed the City Council on a number of issues. She even attended a

recent council meeting to publicly chastise me (I’m thankful I wasn’t

there) over a column I had written a couple of weeks ago about the city

employees’ Christmas party.

In keeping with Thanksgiving, I think Virginia thought the column was a

real turkey and that I deserved a dressing down.

It’s not fun being basted and beaten with a drumstick in public, but

Virginia was right to cook my goose.

What was intended to be a tongue-in-cheek column, turned out to be a

spoiled batch of cranberry jelly, which was both tart and cheap. The

column wasn’t truly reflective of my opinions and took an unfair shot at

the city employees, who deserved much better.

Virginia’s continuing presence at various council meetings may annoy some

members of the public, the staff and the council. Even though Virginia

served me up on a platter with comments that were certainly less than

flattering, I remain a staunch Virginia Sims fan.

This Thanksgiving I will thank and think of Virginia Sims. Thanksgiving

is about caring who we are, what we do, what we have, and most important,

how we can be better. And whether emotional and sometimes even turbulent

in thought, Virginia sends a loud and clear message -- she cares.

Virginia’s passion at so many City Council meetings reminds me that we

can all do a better job of caring.

On this Thanksgiving Day, we would do well to remind ourselves that the

cop we drive by spends his or her day away from friends and family, so

that we might safely enjoy our day.

Virginia’s constant comments about the plight of the city firefighters

might serve to remind each of us that many of them will spend

Thanksgiving with other firefighters at the hall, rather than with their

families, so that our homes and health are protected.

For many, me included, Thanksgiving has not only blended with the other

Thanksgiving Days of our lives, but all too often with every other day of

our lives, such that it loses its uniqueness and even its value as a day

of appreciation and assessment. Thanksgiving represents a day to care

about the right things we’ve done in life as well as a day to care about

those mistakes we’ve made.

Virginia will inspire me this Thanksgiving Day, and hopefully every day,

because she cares.

A cynic might suggest that Virginia has nothing better to do with her

life, and they would be right. There is probably nothing more important

on this day and in life than caring. Whether you spread a short net of

caring around just your family and friends, or you cast a huge net of

caring around a community, Virginia reminds us all to care.

On this Thanksgiving, I wish you all a very happy day of appreciation and

reflection. And a special thanks to Virginia, who reminded me that I’d

served a poorly cooked turkey two weeks early.

* RON DAVIS is a private attorney who lives in Huntington Beach. He can

be reached by e-mail at ronscolumn@worldnet.att.net.