Variables Accessible From Within A Function Passed As Parameter To Event.observe() (prototype.js). Why?

I have the following working JS script in one of the sites I'm working on. I'm wondering why the variables 'countryEl' and 'zipEl' are accessible from within the function passed to

Solution 1:

If it did not, life would be so much harder. Apparently the private vars in document.observe are still local inside the Event.observe possibly passed on by some jugglery of the api. But would you rather not have it that way? How would that be of help I cannot imagine.