Why DID the chicken cross the road?

I was out training a driver in some barely-inhabited farmland about 8 bazillion miles from civilization.  As he drove along, I sat comfortably in the passenger seat.  Suddenly, out of nowhere, a chicken ran out in front of our truck.  With no time to react, we...well...what is the "PC" way to put this?...We obliterated the chicken.  And just as quickly as the chicken appeared out of nowhere, came the woman who had been out walking said chicken.  Yes, you heard me right...she was walking her chicken.  Rednecks! 

She was very distraught and irate about what we had done to her chicken.  She made it very clear that she expected the driver and I to be liable for her chicken catastrophe.  I calmly explained to her that we are not accountable for hitting wild animals in the road. Yet, her standpoint was that this chicken was not a wild animal, but rather...her pet.  And so,  back and forth we went with the intensity of our tone growing more and more hostile; both of us trying to validate our points.  I finally blurted out without thinking..."So Ma'am...why WAS your chicken crossing the road?" Upon hearing this question, my driver reacted with an immediate outburst of absolute teary-eyed hysterics; the exact OPPOSITE reaction of the woman who apparently had her funny bone removed as a child, or so it seemed.  As I watched one side laugh and the other boil to the point of explosion, I remembered the importance the words we choose have and their potential effect on people.  If I learned anything from this incident it's that I'll always try to think before I speak....oh yeah, and also to keep an eye out for crazy hillbillys out walking their chickens.

Ephesians 4:29~ Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.