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Teen Races onto Train Tracks after Age 2 Boy Who Fell In

By Tia Starr February 19, 2018 at 2:40pm

No matter what form of transportation or what corner of the world we’re in, traveling with toddlers is rough. You’re already responsible for your own safety, but you also are responsible for an innocent little human who is oblivious to the dangers surrounding them.

Thirsty to explore the world around them, they can be unpredictable and quick-moving. Try as we might, it’s impossible to prevent every misstep.

At a busy Milan subway station, a 2-year-old was playing with a toy when something went wrong. It got away and tumbled onto the tracks.

The video is a bit unclear — it looks like the tot either misjudged the chasm and fell in or purposely chased after the toy. Either way, the child fell off the station’s platform and onto the tracks.

For a second, everyone froze. Then, too slowly, people started walking toward the ledge the child had fallen off of.

The next train was due in 90 seconds. Finally, a swift-footed Lorenzo Pianazza, 18, rushed into frame, peeling off his backpack as he approached.

Pianazza jumped down onto the tracks, picked the child up, handed him over to adults, and lifted himself back onto the platform. He even managed to retrieve the toy that’d gotten away.

“I knew I could do it, and no one else was moving. They were stuck,” Pianazza recalled, adding that he was only happy he had not caused more problems by jumping onto the tracks.

Giuseppe Sala, Milan’s Mayor, invited Pianazza and Claudia Flora Castellano to his office to commend them for their life-saving efforts.

Castellano worked in the station control room. When she saw the commotion taking place on the tracks, she stopped the oncoming train.

Pianazza was also thanked by the child’s mother. He says all that is important is that the child is back safe in her arms and unharmed.

Something funny happens when you watch one of these videos.

Many of us think we know exactly how we’d react, and so it’s easy to pass judgement on the listless crowd of spectators that gathered around the life-threatening emergency.

To be entirely fair, the soundless recording with everyone’s back to the camera doesn’t paint a complete picture. We also don’t know what condition any of these people were in — if they were even capable of stepping in as Pianazza did.

“I don’t even want to imagine being in [the mother’s] situation,” Pianazza said. Yet while many are applauding Pianazza’s heroism, he doesn’t see himself as a hero — but then, heroes never do.

“They’re saying I was brave… I was just ready,” Pianazza reflected. May we all be just as ready.

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