Pin Ball Scare

On Sunday afternoon I took Mollie to work with me at a local ski and bike shop. As I sat in the boot fitting area working with a customer Mollie laid quietly at my side. Involved in a discussion with the customer I failed to notice a little blond haired girl of about 8 years old come forward to pat the dog. At the sound of Mollie's tale wagging I turned to see the little girl stroking her head. In her tiny voice the girl asked what kind of dog Mollie was and I responded that she was a Pit Bull. At this, the little girl stood quickly and stepped back. As she did so Mollie laid her ears flat back against her head and continued wagging her tail, never rising to her feet.

"Is she ok, I mean, is she friendly?"

I glanced down at the dog, still wriggling with joy over the little girls previous affections and then back at the blond haired child.

"Yes," I said, "she's as friendly as they get."

I mused to myself about what parents must tell their kids about this dog breed, formulated a little speech in my head about media sensationalism, and fear and consumption, but held back after considering my audience. Besides, It's not the parent that's to blame, their just trying to protect their child, it's ignorance, intolerance, and a lack of accessible materials to educate the masses...Wow, that all seems so familiar, like we've faced intolerance as a race before or something...Anyway the little girl responded,

"Oh, because pin balls are usually really mean."

"That actually isn't true," I said "they just have a bad reputation..."

And as I began to educate the little girl on the merits of the breed, including an infallible love of children, her father approached...

"Look daddy," she said, "it's a pin ball and she's really nice."

"Well, hello pin ball," the father joked and scratched Mollie on the head.
"She sure is a friendly pin ball isn't she?" he continued.

"Yep, she's sure is a friendly pin ball."

In the end, Mollie is a much better teacher than I am.