The police sedan blisters down the one way street, sirens piercing the once silent night, shattering an already fragile paradigm. This used to be a safe neighbourhood, she said, and now every night there’s a domestic disturbance, a drug deal gone bad, a break-in in progress.

T-Dot’s practically balmy. Half-expecting Missouri-force snowstorms, he’s greeted with relatively tropical weather, so much so that it warrants island dress. Scores of meteorologists, legions of tree huggers and Al Gore may be correct, but it still boggles the mind.

This is the bane of human existence; when presented with a situation so utterly unexpected, something so inane that our 3 pounds of spongy matter does a double take. It may have been Creation’s little trick: in giving us thought, we were also gifted (or cursed) with a hunger to satisfy murderous attitudes towards felines. Whether it lies in religious tomes, scientific pursuits, spiritual meditation or symbolic art, we seek the ultimate answer to the ultimate question: Why?

While many have struggled to provide rational explanations, the late great Douglas Adams once wrote in his five part trilogy:

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something more bizarrely inexplicable.

There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

Flippant? Perhaps, but within those two sentences lie a kernel of truth that cannot be ignored. If there is anything that is certain and constant in this universe, it is that things change.

Our very lives are dictated by changing states. The smell of a moist roast unleashes a Proustian flood of memories. The price of gasoline drops 12 cents in 2.5 hours. Time is the linear measurement of the difference between Point A to Point B. Civilizations rise and fall, cities prosper and fail, economies boom, bust and echo.

And of course, uncluttered has changed. In my first post, I was advocating evolved thought, confident in my ability to proselytize to the masses. Now, the soapbox has been placed in storage, the lights dimmed. In this post, I’m one vote shy of being charged guilty of meandering. As 2006 draws to a close, and 2007 raises even more questions, my cliché answer to that burning question is simply:

Why not?