The comments on here about sexual predators is crazed nonsense. Our “Stranger Danger” fascination is out of control. What else would this woman have done, “Sorry brat, I have to shop”? Yes, there are some f’ed up people out there, but every subway platform full of people isn’t chocked full child rapists itching to abduct. In fact, the vast majority of child molestation is done by people who know the children. I got lost plenty of times as a child, and there was always a handful of strangers there to help. There are actual deep animal instinctual biological triggers built into the human brain that compel us to help anxious children (a social specie/group preserving instinct.) All the comments on here from people who think the child was a breath away from the lurking predator’s grasp, scare me and are a testament to the manufactured illogical delusion persisting today. Get a grip people.

thank god a decent human being was there and stayed with the little boy to keep him safe from predators and also from falling on the tracks!
my shoulder bag got stuck in the doors of a subway train once. the stupid operator just kept yelling through the intercom to stay clear of the doors so she could close them…it took her 3 freaking minutes to open the door up so i could pull my bag in the train with me!

I know this sure looked like a happy ending and all, but in that time span, she could have indoctrinated that kid in the teachings of Scientology! Who really knows if he’s ok?

An incident like this makes me think about something I read a few years ago about making some changes to the safety things a lot of parents teach their kids. The article said instead of telling your kids to *NEVER* talk to strangers if they get lost, you should tell them if they have to ask a stranger for help they should ask a woman and never a man, no matter what the age or gender of the child. The reasoning behind it was that your average woman you’d see on the street is much less likely to be a sexual predator that would view a lost child as a potential victim and is most likely to react in a more motherly fashion and help a lost kid. FWIW, the train operator should be fired if he really did ignore 4 emergency calls. Doing that could have cost someone their life.

To all the people thinking this is nothing special, consider this: these days we live in a world where sexual predators are prevalent. The little boy could have easily been snatched up by one of these monsters, but instead he had this woman to watch over him while his father made his way back.

The fact that this woman is being so lauded for not leaving a three-year-old child to fend for himself on a subway platform is a sad commentary on the current state of decency in our society.

Portland represeeeent. Our faulty train doors (and Good Samaritans) are better than yours.

i agree, leefy. the news story is calling her an angel and all sorts of crazed nonsense. what’s she gonna do? “Sorry kid, I’ve got shit to do. Later.”?

that’s great but at the same time what someone in her situation is supposed to do.

this kind of thing balances out videos of bloody polar bears falling from the sky, and frying still-live fish.