14. Why did the chicken cross the road?

Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. Musing Interruptus is a podcast for sharing thoughts and stories and enjoying idiomatic phrases. You can read along; just click on continue reading in the description to open a Google Doc with the transcription of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, subscribe, follow, and share, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! I love hearing from you! The background music is called Floating Whist by Blue Dot.

The mix and master were done by Chuy/Jesús Darío, my sound charolastra

Why did the chicken cross the road? 

Why does anybody cross the road? Why not stay on this side? Things can’t be that bad if others are trying to cross to where you are. Stay. Let them visit and tell you the stories of what is on the other side. Besides, you are safe from foxes here. You don’t want to become a box lunch for those rabid critters. These are the things our clucky friend would hear in the chicken coop every time they brought up their wonder. 

The chicken, who is in fact brave and curious, could not let the false and unfounded responses dictate their destiny. They could hear the other chicken’s lack of awareness and fear. This chicken must. The other side of the road was waiting and oh what a delight to satisfy their curiosity by crossing that dusty road. There must be more than the coop. 

Truly, if you had been there, watching this descendent of the red jungle fowls, you might ask, why not travel up and down that road? Also, have you tried going up, as you have wings. The answer is not complicated.

As Mr. XS sings in the song “Never Tear Us Apart”, we all have wings but some of us don’t know why. I think Mr. XS was talking specifically about our friend the chicken.- 

Domesticated. Exploited. Made to believe they had nothing more to offer than the promise of eggs laid. The chicken didn’t know much, but something would not let them peacefully accept what was tacitly accepted around the coop. Something.

There is always a thing in these stories. And here it is:

The fixation the chicken had about crossing the road was necessary and simply the stepping stone to other possibilities. Most beings need to build towards more lofty goals. We do not eat an apple in just one bite, unless it is those tiny Rokcit apples from New Zealand. Which I hope one day to taste. Please send apples. I’d rather go and pick them myself. I too must cross the street or go down it. On second thought, I should probably fly. That chicken and I have much in common. 

Why did the chicken cross the road? Because they needed to start somewhere. Kind of like Mr. Cocker at the supermarket. The greatest journeys start with putting one foot forward, I hope it is the best one. If you set out to explore the world or learn a new language, there is always a first step, sometimes against the innermost demons. You know the kind, the ones whose voices make you second guess your wishes and abilities, the ones that make you stop before the project has even begun. Stabbing your will to move forward, and the phrase, what’s the point? The death blow. If you aren’t careful, it will make sense.  I bet this is resonating more and more with my unconscious mind. Or is it yours? Continue reading