I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives.

This line is a modern, anonymous humorous riff on the long-standing joke question “Why did the chicken cross the road?”—a piece of Anglo-American popular humor attested in print since the 19th century. The quote reframes the chicken’s mundane action as something subjected to suspicion and interrogation, echoing contemporary cultural anxieties about surveillance, over-analysis, and the demand that every act have an explicable “motive.” It circulates primarily as an internet-era quip (often in quote collections and social media), presented as “Anonymous” rather than tied to a verifiable speech, essay, or literary work.

The joke works by treating an absurdly simple scenario—an animal crossing a road—as if it were a morally or politically charged act requiring justification. In doing so, it satirizes a culture that reflexively suspects intention, searches for hidden agendas, or polices ordinary behavior. The “better tomorrow” language parodies lofty utopian rhetoric, suggesting that true freedom might mean being allowed to do ordinary things without scrutiny. It also nods to the original chicken joke’s anti-climax (“to get to the other side”), celebrating plainness and resisting the impulse to over-interpret.