Painting by Jacque Pépin
11/27/22
The inspiration for this blog post came from Dean Sluyter’s book of the same title. Shout out to Sluyter.
The question, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” has garnered a few obvious answers and a few comical ones. Here is a sampling:
To get to the other side faster
To prove he wasn’t chicken
To meet Cock-a-doodle-doo
Because it was free range.
Ha! but not so fast.
Let’s fly up to 3,000 feet (something a chicken can’t do) and try to look at this question from up there.
1) crossing the road
We accept that a road is a metaphor for life. It is an object of entry and escape, a means to an end, a place requiring a choice, a symbol of progress or regression, and a path to possible adventure. The chicken isn’t walking down the center of the road, but rather approaches it, and then decides to cross to…
2) the other side
Traditionally, “the other side” implies a place of solace from a present condition, such as the other side of a river (afterlife), or an escape from oppression (crossing the Rio Grande). Then there is “the grass is greener on the other side” implication-where experienced travelers realize that that posit is erroneous.
3) Why a chicken?
First, let me assure you that after eight years of tending to the chicken coop in the barn at Merry Mount, I have observed and have a strong knowledge of chickens! I have watched them forage for food; develop a social “pecking order”; and run from and hide from a fox. Besides providing us seasonally with rich, delicious eggs, they have provided moments of entertainment.
If one peruses the ten most popular cookbooks sold today, one will not be surprised to find numerous recipes for preparing chicken. Be assured that as soon as Rett named our poulets at Merry Mount, they were saved from the pot.
And speaking of the pot, I draw your attention to: “Art of the Chicken: A Master Chef’s Paintings, Stories, and Recipes of the Humble Bird,” by Jacque Pépin.
Chickens, unlike other fowl, can’t fly very well or far, and they generally travel in a group, often following a leader, and, therefore, seldom venture out alone. So, a solo chicken approaching any road is an uncommon occurrence, and thus the riddle implies an uncommon happening. Are you one of the brave?
ceramic tile from Khnemu Studio, https://khnemustudio.com/about
Could it be that the chicken was tired of being "cooped up"?
"Which way out?"
Or perhaps, the solo chicken is trying to escape from the hysteria created by “chicken little” and the sycophant flock that listens to her.
Don't be a follower, be an adventurous leader .
painted tile coaster by Alyssa Watters
The Answer
Why did the chicken cross the road?
I defer first to Dean Sluyter:
From that high-flying, cosmos-spanning viewpoint, all this talk of crossing roads and getting to other sides is just a trick of dualistic language-a joke, indeed. We never go anywhere. Whatever we’re experiencing in the present moment, this is the far shore, if only we can open ourselves to it completely. The Promised Land is not some external piece of real estate toward which we journey through space, or even some internal state of enlightenment for which we strive in time. This is it.
But in deference to the chickens at Merry Mount, I offer the following:
Why did the chicken cross the road? To lay a golden egg!
Let's strive to be like the solo chicken who makes the world a better place by laying golden eggs for others to find.
CPW
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