https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/07/pit-bull-ban-aggressive-dog-breed-bronwen-dickey/

For my poetry pairing, I wrote a poem called “Making a Monster” and used National Geographic’s article “The Most Feared Dogs May Also Be the Most Misunderstood” by Simon Worral and Bronwen Dickey. My poem, the article, and the picture all come together to demonstrate the prejudice and misunderstanding in our lives. We as humans are so quickly to judge others based on our preconceived ideas that we look straight through the possible truth. Dickey goal is to “attempt to show that negative views about pit bulls have often been shaped by misunderstandings of the breed and its history.” This links to our natural human condition that we are so quick to judge without truly understanding where we may be wrong. Both the poem and the article are connected to the theme of perception vs. reality. Many of us have a negative first perception of pitbulls, not completely realizing that the reality could be that the specific dog may be just as friendly as another family dog. We have been taught not to discriminate against certain people or races, yet we continuously (for decades) have done the same with dogs. One can only hope that with time the prejudice and misunderstanding against people, dogs, and anything else that may have a preconceived idea against it will fade.

 

Making a Monster

 

What is prejudice?

Prejudice creeps around our world,

And settles down on our shoulders,

Weighing us down and slowly dismantling our lives.

 

What is prejudice?

It is the target we involuntarily carry around on our backs

waiting for someone to fire.

It is a thousand knives steadily piercing our skin

until there is nothing left.

It is the last punch to the gut

sending our body aimlessly flying to the ground.

 

What is prejudice?

Prejudice lingers through the air,

Eagerly waiting for us to snatch it with our bare hands.

Eagerly waiting to make the monster.