RON DAVIS -- Through my eyes

Last week, the Independent published an interesting piece on the subject

of awareness. The issue, the writer suggested, was how to make you aware

of what you’re not aware of. How to make you aware of something that our

political leaders may be aware of but are acting like they’re completely

unaware of, which in turn keeps you unaware of what they may be aware of,

but which is important for us all to be aware of, and of which, most of

us are still unaware.

Get it?

Do you remember Superman?

I’m not trying to make you aware of Superman, because most of you are

probably already aware of him. I’m trying to illustrate the difficulty of

the awareness task by pointing out the difference between remembering

something you’re already aware of, such as Superman, and creating an

awareness of something you were never aware of in the first place -- such

as Captain I.

See what I mean? You’ve probably never heard of Captain I. I’ll go ahead

and tell you about him.

Both Superman and Captain I are superheroes. In fact, Captain I is an

even more important superhero.

Why do I want to make you aware of Captain I? If I told you that Superman

was sick, you’d already know that the only thing that could bring him

down was a bad dose of Kryptonite. And, if you wanted to save him, you’d

know how to deal with the problem.

On the other hand, if I told you that Captain I was sick, you’d probably

say “So what?” because you’ve never heard of him.

Being unaware of him means that you don’t know how important he is. And

if you don’t know how important he is, if he becomes sick, you have

little reason to try to save him.

Captain I can’t leap tall buildings in a single bound, but he has the

strength to hold the tall building up. Captain I’s not more powerful than

a speeding locomotive, but he’s strong enough to carry the train on his

back. Without Captain I, tall buildings for Superman to hop wouldn’t

exist. And for that matter, powerful locomotives would be pointless

without Captain I’s strong back to run them across.

Captain I is probably more ignored than he is invisible. The “I” in his

name stands for neither word. While Superman is glamorous and

maintenance-free, Captain I is boring, mundane and requires three square

meals a day, costly care and attention.

Superman’s a luxury to be enjoyed whenever we choose. Captain I is a

daily necessity, affecting our quality of life every moment of every day.

Just as we have to eat daily and maintain our health so we can produce

results for ourselves and our families, Captain I requires daily care and

feeding, so that he can provide a solid springboard for our quality of

life.

The “I” in Captain I stands for infrastructure, and he is the superhero

that carries water to our homes (try and do without water for a while)

and transports the sewage to our treatment facilities (try and haul that

yourself).

Captain I is the roads we drive on, the sidewalks our kids ride their

bikes on, the street lights that keep our homes lighted and safe, the

walls that give us privacy, and the traffic signals that keep us from

running into one another.

Without Captain I, our quality of life is in the toilet.

Now that you’re aware of Captain I, have I told you that he’s sick?

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

be reached by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .