Monday, February 18, 2008

The Chicken's Story

Today as I was driving home from Mississippi, I looked up and saw a first - a chicken crossing the road - really and truly. It had crossed my lane and was almost to the other side. Even though I grew up on a farm, I have never literally seen a chicken crossing a road.

Naturally, this led me to ask many questions. Why was the chicken crossing the road? Had it escaped a farmer's ax? Had it flown the coop? Was it on vacation? Was it in training for a marathon? In order to put my mind at rest, I channeled the chicken and recorded the following story:


Quilt, The Chicken Who Crossed the Road

Quilt looked up for the umpteenth time as she pulled yet another worm out of the ground. Honestly, was this what life was all about? Pecking for worms and laying eggs? It had been nice for a while, but wasn't there any more to life?

Quilt decided to find another spot for worm-pulling and headed for the corner of the pen. She noticed the flowers on the other side of the fence and wondered what they smelled like. Her curiosity getting the best of her, Quilt pecked a hole in the fence and went out into the world.

Quilt found a new world to discover. She smelled daffodils and tasted ants. She drank from new ponds and heard crickets for the first time. Every day Quilt went farther out into this new world, finding new things to discover and learn.

One day Quilt came to the road and stopped. There were large, loud things zooming back and forth. Sometimes things got squished by the large, loud things. Quilt thought she could see intriguing things on the other side of the road but she was just too scared to try to cross over to find out.

Finally Quilt's curiosity could no longer be contained. She wanted to smell new things, taste new things, and try new things. She was still afraid, but wanted to go forward, so she took a deep breath and took that first step. It was scary, and she thought she might die, but Quilt made it across the road, where she constantly found new things that made her life complete.

Quilt kept exploring and quite often found new roads to cross. But she was never afraid again, because she had taken the first step and she knew forward was the only direction she would go.

Why did the chicken cross the road?
Because she had the courage to do so.

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