The Proverbial Chicken

You have no doubt heard the question, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Have you ever really wondered why the chicken crossed the road? Or what made the chicken want to cross the road in the first place?

Perhaps you’ve wondered how the chicken crossed the road? It’s not every day that you’ll see a chicken crossing the road. There is likely much that we can all learn from taking a closer look at the life of the proverbial chicken. I conducted some research recently on the life of this chicken and I think you’ll be most interested and inspired by what I’m about to share.

The chicken had a name and her name was Thelma. Research on Thelma’s life shows that she grew up as many chickens do, in a traditional co-op style-housing unit at the side of the road. Thelma was raised by her parents in one of the small box-like apartments within the co-op and for the first few years of her life, Thelma lived the kind of life that was expected of a chicken.

Thelma was expected to wake up every day and go to work, just like all of the other chickens. One of her first duties of the day was to produce one or two eggs. This made her parents very proud, particularly if they could brag to the other chicken parents that their child had produced more eggs than the other chicken children.

Once her egg-laying mission for the day was accomplished, Thelma would be allowed into the yard to eat, play and socialize with the other chickens. However, there are very clear rules for how chickens must behave. They must not violate the ‘pecking order’ of the group. All chickens are taught from a very young age not to ‘go against the grain’ or to be different from the group.

At night, Thelma would return to her apartment to sleep and her routine would repeat again the next day and the next day and the next. Days became weeks, weeks became months, months became years and soon the sameness of her life began to bother Thelma. Heck, if I didn’t know she was a chicken, I might have mistaken her for a government worker.

Thelma began to wonder if there wasn’t more to her life than her egg-laying existence within the co-op. Apparently, she was entering a more “eggsistentialist” phase of her life. It was also around this time that Thelma began to notice the sound of music coming from somewhere, music that she could feel in her heart, music that caused her to start dancing.

She began to dance in her room at night. Thelma loved the feeling of strutting her chicken stuff around the room and quickly realized that she felt far more excited about dancing than she did about laying eggs. It was a Saturday evening when she had an “Aha” moment while listening to these lyrics from the song Flashdance, “….find your passion and make it happen…”. She didn’t want to lay eggs any more. Thelma had found her passion and knew that she wanted to become a dancer.

Thelma approached her parents with her dream. Their response was not what Thelma had hoped for. “What!!? You’re a chicken!! Chickens don’t dance, they lay eggs!! Every other chicken in this co-op lays eggs, they don’t dance. Get that crazy idea out of your head.” Thelma was disheartened so she spoke to her best friend, Louise, about her dream.

Thelma had always admired Louise because she lived life on her terms. Louise was a bit of a free-range chicken spirit you could say. She’d ventured outside the co-op a few times over the years, doing things that most chickens would be too afraid to try. Apparently she had even hooked up with and joined a band of wild turkeys way back in the 70s.

Louise took a long puff on her cigarette, turned to Thelma and simply said: “Honey, if laying eggs ain’t rocking your world but dancing is, then you gotta dance.” Louise then went on to tell Thelma that there was more than one side of the road and that she didn’t have to spend her entire life in this co-op, on this side of the road. “What!!?? Are you kidding me??”! Thelma wondered with awe.

She began to imagine what life on the other side of the road might look like. She later realized that the music she’d been hearing for quite some time, the music she’d been dancing to, had been coming from somewhere on the other side of the road. Louise egged her on a bit more: “Honey, if you wanna dance then you gotta go where the music is.” In that moment, Thelma knew that she needed to cross the road.

Thelma’s decision quickly spread throughout the co-op. Everyone was clucking about it. No-one believed that she could dance. No one believed that she’d be able to cross the road. No chicken from their co-op had ever crossed the road before. Everyone thought that Thelma was being a very foolish chicken.

By this time Thelma had spent several years of her life laying eggs and living the traditional chicken lifestyle, which wasn’t bringing her happiness. She wanted to dance. It didn’t matter what others thought anymore. She intuitively knew that any chicken could achieve whatever it wanted to in life. And she intuitively knew that the fulfillment of her dancing dream resided on the other side of the road. Thelma was a determined chicken and decided that she would cross the road the next day.

She went to bed with a heart filled with excitement and anticipation. She was about to venture towards her dream!! She would never lay another egg ever again. She would only be laying out some fancy dance moves. Thelma slept soundly that night before awakening to some questions of her own the next morning.

“Can I really do this? I’ve never known another chicken who’s become a dancer. What if I don’t make it across the road? I’m not even sure how to cross a road!” Every chicken can be a bit chicken at times.

Then Thelma began to hear that familiar sound again…music coming from the other side of the road. She smiled and grabbed her suitcase for it was time to go.

She hugged her parents goodbye and told them not to worry. In her heart she knew that they understood her decision, they’d always told her that they wanted her to be a happy chicken. Thelma headed to the side of the road and looked across but couldn’t see anything in the distance. She could only hear the music.

Thelma, on her way across the road

Thelma took a deep breath, looked both ways and stepped onto the road. She put one chicken foot in front of the other and kept on walking. “Wow, I’m doing it! I’m crossing the road!!”

A few minutes later, in a historic moment, Thelma The Chicken made it to the other the road. When Thelma reached her final destination on the other side of the road she was amazed at what she saw. It was even better than she’d imagined.

She was greeted by a rainbow, singing birds, fluffy white clouds in the sky and happy, free-ranging chickens everywhere. She also met several other chickens who’d crossed the road and realized their dreams too such as Foghorn Leghorn, Chicken Little and The Little Red Hen. And the music continued to play, her music, the music she’d been listening to for a long time. Thelma was eggstatic to finally be on the other side of the road.

She began to dance. And dance. And dance. She danced all day and all night. Nothing could stop her from dancing. Thelma was as happy as a chicken could ever be. She’d finally realized her dream. In fact, Thelma became quite famous for her dancing, eventually having a dance named after her.

You’ve likely heard of it. In fact, you’ve likely even done it.

It’s called The Chicken Dance and it is a celebratory dance enjoyed by chickens and people all around the world. Imagine!!

Wow!! Not only did Thelma follow her dream and become a dancer. Not only did Thelma cross the road. She became a World-Famous Dancing Chicken who inspired millions around the world!!!

And THAT ladies and gentlemen, is why the chicken crossed the road.