On "Shoes, Falling" by Melanie Haney (4525 words) ***

If I were to write of binaries here, of opposing principles, yes and no, the lack of any other choices, I'd say something like, "There are two types of people in this world: those who trust, those who don't; those who use lawyers, those who rely on the kindness of others." Reading this, I couldn't help but identify with the mother, with the truster, the one who is hesitant to sue. The story seems to come down on the side of trust as well. But what's interesting is that, while I'm heartened that everything comes out well in the story, and while my own proclivity would be to do just what the mom does, theoretically it seems like the more cynical daughters more often win out. I mean, when you've got neighbors turning against neighbors in places like Iraq and Georgia (the country, that is), people killing or looting others they once ate dinner with, how can one not be? Why do things work sometimes, and why not others? I would like to think that it's just that we're not kind enough to one another. But it takes two to be kind. And knowing whether that's going to be is the hard part. Read the story here at Summerset Review.