Thread by @AdamBandt

On the busy Craigieburn line train home from the city last night, a young boy started crying.

It quickly became obvious no one was travelling with him.

He was very, very distressed.

/1

I watched from two seats away as the woman sitting next to him took charge, trying to find out what his name was & where his parents were. It was almost impossible to get information out of him. She said she’d get off with him at Nth Melb to help sort things out. /2

A man in a CFMMEU top, sitting opposite the boy, checked that the woman was fine to look after him. It was hard to talk with him, so the man and the boy looked at the train map to work out where he lived. The boy pointed to Sunbury, a long way from where we were. /3

From a few seats away, another woman, Akiko, walked over & tried to talk with the boy in Mandarin, a language I later found out she’d picked up while working in China. This had mixed results, so she called out to ask if anyone on the train spoke either Vietnamese or Cantonese. /4

More women joined & tried to talk to the boy in different languages. They worked out that he was 12yo & with his mum in the city, where they must have become separated, but that was it for info. No name, phone number or contact details. /5

The train was now at Newmarket, where Akiko & another woman got off with him. I did too. Akiko & I decided to take him to the police station, stopping on the way for another (unsuccessful) attempt at translation (shout out to multilingual staff at Flemington Childcare Coop) /6

We waited together while the police made enquiries. Despite our best efforts, we still couldn’t really communicate with him. I dragged out the best pacifier I could find - ‘Despicable Me’ on the iPad - and we all settled in to wait. /7

Eventually, good news came through that his mum was with the police in Melb looking for him. (As best as we can make out, he wandered off in a department store and, lost and distressed, jumped on the (wrong) train for home.) The police took him off to reunite with his mum. /8

I teared up a bit after that as I put myself in his mum’s shoes, imagining my kids similarly lost. But actually, this was the best of people. When someone can’t communicate, has no papers & is clearly in immediate distress, we stop what we’re doing & look after them. /9

It’s people behaving like this that gives me hope. And I think it’s how most people behave towards others, unless we’ve been infected by dehumanizing ideology or by the politics of hate & division. Governments could learn a thing or two from the Craigieburn line. /10

Generally, we feel connected with people we don’t know unless we’re taught not to. We are impelled to care, because we know it’s right. Thank you, Melbourne, for reminding me that without a spirit of care, each of us is nothing. ❤️