In capitalism,
you cannot throw out
the dirty water of financial speculation
and keep the healthy baby of the real economy:
The dirty water effectively is the blood of the healthy baby.
One should not be afraid to go to the end here:
the global capitalist legal system itself is,
in its most fundamental dimension,
corruption legalized.
The question of where crime begins
(which financial dealings are illegal)
is thus not a legal question
but an eminently political question,
a question of power.

So why did thousands of businessmen and politicians
do what is documented in the Pentagon Papers?
The answer is the same as that old vulgar riddle-joke:
why do dogs lick their balls?
because they can.

— excerpt The Courage of Hope less ness
By Slavoj Zizek p. 21

---

Day two of our cross country trip conveying antique carousel animals to be delivered to museums around in country, leaving California with New York City our final destination.

These words of Zizek echo in my mind.  One of the aspects that mark us as human is our irrepressable urge to ask “why?”.  Why do the mesas of the high plaines desert look they way they do in the morning sun?  What causes over time, figure in to their present condition, and upon their effect upon me?  Why all these old, abandoned American Indian souvenir stands along the highway every few miles in New Mexico? 

The highlight of our long day of driving was a stop in Kingman Arizona to pick up an additional carousel animal from Pam and Charlie who are old friends with Tobin.  Pam is a well respected curator of these wood carved antiques.  She and Charlie are also falconers, and give treatment to injured birds of prey in their bird house.  The desert around their home glowed with an austere, subtle beauty.  I wanted to remember the purple prickly pear cactus that was at my feet.  I took the photo of the almost adult female eagle that is receiving rehabilitation and training before release.  We chatted for a few minutes after loading and securing the animal that we were to transport.  A few minutes of the conversation had to do with the antique French bunny carousel animal on display in unrestored condition.  The wood surface of the small animal, polished smooth by generations of children, speaks wordlessly of the hope that we all have for life and for this world.

We completed our day of driving after sunset passing through Albuquerque on our way to our lodging at Santa Rosa.  The city stretch out before us as civilizations ostentatious sparkle.

The “why” that we ask of nature’s effects around us is the same “why” that we ask of society, and of the conditions of life which we have created for our fellow human beings.

We have to keep on asking.