Can I Help

Overview

Lisa's class is on a field trip to a Civil War fort. As the children inspect the fort and the park that surrounds it, forest ranger Bob Kempf describes the strategy of a battle once fought there and remarks, "Many men died needlessly because there was no one to help them." This moves Lisa, who says earnestly to her friend Julie, "If I had been there, I would have helped them." A classmate of theirs, Jamie, overhears her and scoffs, "There's a lot of difference between really helping and pretending."