I had a moment of panic while driving to work this morning. I was headed east and realized that my windshield was so bloody filthy that I couldn’t see certain areas. So I pressed the lever coming off my steering wheel that sprays the wiper fluid on my windshield and let it go a few times. Frenzy struck when my wiper blades didn’t do their job like they should and I literally could not see what was in front of me.

In true Idaho fashion, I leaned out my window and drove like that until I turned north and didn’t have the sun bearing down on the dirty glass in front of me. I looked and felt like an idiot after the adrenaline subsided and I was driving like a normal human again.

I guess I got lazy. I had been looking through a filthy, film-covered windshield for over a month now, but I didn’t own any glass cleaner and kept forgetting to buy some. I haven’t had much need to replace my wiper blades either. That neglectfulness caught up with me, didn’t it?

So tonight, I borrowed some glass cleaner, grabbed some paper towels, and cleaned my windshield inside and out. I still have to go to the store for new wiper blades. But that small act, a step in the right direction was more than noticeable while driving home from family dinner tonight. Removing the filth I had become accustomed to made looking through a clean window feel good. Interestingly, it shouldn’t feel good, it should feel normal.

I’m going to over spiritualize this and say that it’s entirely necessary to clean the crap away on occasion to have a good perspective or to improve your point of view in life. I’m pretty sure I need to do this more often than I do, or at least I need to make sure that I don’t become accustomed to the crap that keeps me from seeing clearly.