Review: To help or not to help ...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 15, 2013
It's a question that each one of us has to ask ourselves at one time or another, "Do we help someone who is suffering or do we not get involved for the fear of what might happen?" Kathi Macias answers this question in her short story Safe House where a 11-year old boy named Nathaniel has to come to grips with this question.The Civil War is the backdrop to the dilemma of helping slaves escape from their owners in the South. It was a risky business for those who got involved. Nathaniel's father and grandfather had been helping them for years. Now that Nathaniel's father is in the War and his grandfather suffers from advanced arthritis, it is up to Nathaniel to decide whether to help a family he finds in the tack room in the barn.  The mother just gave birth to their baby and needs to rest a day or two before moving on. Her husband, Samuel, seems educated. How can this be? Nathaniel wonders.Nathaniel's mother is against the rescuing of slaves, so he must sneak food and water out to the family. He then hears a rumor of impending doom and has to decide what he will do. This is a great theme for readers who have a passion for any slave issues of today. The suspense grows as the reader journeys through the story, and hopefully, will answer for themselves the question the story asks.