Clear View

Recently I was driving my truck along when I came to a turn. Being a responsible driver(sometimes), I turned on my signal which is located on the same bar as my windshield wiper control and whoops.

The wipers came on and whipped their way across a dry windshield. The passenger side blade ripped right off.

Needless to say, I bought new blades a few days later since the local weather man indicated rain in the five day forecast. I replaced the blades and problem solved. When the rain hit, if I happened to be on the road, the new blades would whip the rain from my windshield and I would be able to see just fine.

However, in real life, things are always this simple.

If for instance, you are looking to find a new relationship but cannot get over your ex, you can definitely have a problem seeing clearly. The new people you date might not ever measure up to the standards set by your ex or they might even remind you of the ex too much. And who knows? Maybe they have an ex they are not over either. So the both of you are more or less wasting each others time.

In fiction, this very same thing happens.

A character goes through a series of events that end up blinding their vision to real opportunities and real threats.

I am sure most of us like to think that we could easily see that Ahab was crazy and that Moby Dick was best to be let go of, but Ahab cannot see this. He is blinded by his obsession.

In Dennis Lehane's Mystic River, Jimmy Marcus is blinded by his own rage over the murder of his daughter that he kills Dave Boyle to get revenge only to learn that Dave- a man who he'd known since childhood and once been friends with- is actually innocent.

I my novel Jack Little, Will Hodge is blinded by the idea of stealing every valuable item he can to the point to where we never know the names of his wife or son. While he seems like he was always somewhat closed off, he appears to have his mind in another place all the time.

I suppose these blinders can serve a story and lead characters to make decisions they otherwise would not just as they do in real life. We have all done things that, when we look back on them, were very foolish. And we would never do them again.

Unless we get blinded...

What about you?

Have you ever had pesky blinders on that led you to make a mistake?

Is it time for you to get new wiper blades?

Let me know. I love your comments!