Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

Take that, FRCN!

 

Friends tend to ask sensible questions. Sometimes.

Onyeka once asked me why the chicken crossed the road. I did not get it, then and as at yesterday, I still had not). 

Today, I was solving a crossword puzzle when I saw the word, chicken. I recalled Onyeka’s question and, this time, I had the answer. 

Did your parents give you that lecture about looking left, right and left again before crossing a road? Mine did. Love to mum and dad for that! Do you look before crossing a road? I look left, right, left, right again (one can never be too careful).

'Look left, right and left again' is a way of taking caution, assessing your chances before you make a move. 

In real life, there are times when that rule will leave us sweating and not taking a single step.  Chike says, 'If all you ever do is take caution, you'll get to a point of stagnation'. That means that there are times when you should just act without thinking because you'll find reasons to not act when you think.

One of such times, for me, is 'approaching people'. 

Many find it so easy to walk up to people and engage them in conversations. Nonso does not. Oh, I can keep you enthralled in conversation, but taking that first step towards you is the hurdle that tripped the horse. 

Many times I have tried to approach people, talk with them, but each time I always thought, “what if they don’t like me?” “What they ignore me?” “What if they blow me off?” “What if they think I’m too handsome for them?” “What if …?” 

 I have been looking for French students to converse with in UNILAG. I have seen a lot, but always got cold feet when it got to approaching them. 

Yesterday, I heard a pretty damsel speaking French. This time, I did not think (not necessarily because she is pretty). I just walked up to her and, abracadabra, I got a friend with whom I could converse in French.  

Now, I’ve figured it out. Now, Onyeka and my fellow shy friends, I can tell you why the chicken crossed the road. He did not look left, right and left again.