A few years ago, I was walking around a busy mall with my father and we were walking towards the escalators to go down to the first floor. As we got closer I saw a mom with a young boy on her hip and a slightly older daughter, probably not more than 6 years old, at the top.

I could see that the daughter was very reluctant to get on the escalator even though her mom was trying to encourage her. The mom stepped onto the escalator while holding her daughter's hand but the daughter didn't step after her and just stood frozen. Naturally, the mom had to let go of her daughter's hand lest she end up physically dragging her daughter onto the escalator. Now the mom was at the bottom of the escalator and the kid was stuck at the top.

I was now behind the kid, aware that there were other people behind me who wanted to use the escalator. And I could see the worried mom at the bottom. In those few seconds, I realised that the mom was probably stuck on what to do. Either she takes the escalator back up hoping her daughter is still there when she gets to the top or she tries to get her daughter to go down the escalator herself while her mom can watch her from the bottom. Neither option was ideal. So the solution my brain came up with in that moment was to just pick up the kid and ride the escalator down while holding her. In the time it took for us to get to the bottom I realised I just picked up a kid without even warning them or getting some form of permission from the kid or the mom.

Thankfully the kid did not squirm while I was holding her. I was so embarrassed when I got to the bottom I put the kid down in front of her mom, nodded to the mom and walked away. It probably helped put her mom at ease that I am woman, but still. Imagine a stranger just picking up your kid.

I could probably have moved the kid away from the escalators entrance and just waited for the mom to make her way back up, but in that moment my brain took the most straightforward route of 'get kid to mom'. But I'm sure if I had moved the kid out of line of sight of her mom they both would have been way more anxious about the situation. The kid being able to see her mom the whole time was probably why she didn't squirm while I was holding her on the way down.

Wherever they are, I hope that kid learned to use escalators by now.

How does this relate to the article? The article mentions immigrants, but race wasn't specifically mentioned.

We play this game in South Africa too. Not because it snows, but because the lines don't get repainted soon enough even if they're completely faded. And instead of snow ploughs, we have taxis (the minibus versions) that just drive wherever and however they want.

My mother grew up on a farm where all but one cat was even allowed inside the house. Not sure what the survival rate was there.

When we finally got cats (I was around 11 years old and we lived in the suburbs), they were allowed to roam outside as they pleased. At that age I obviously assumed that my mom knew how best to deal with cats so I just followed her lead.

Of the 8 cats we've had over the past 16 years:

• one died a few days after getting neutered (we hadn't had the chance to let her roam outside, so not very relevant)

• one died after getting sick (vet suspected poison), she was allowed to roam

• two went missing, both allowed to roam

• two died after being attacked by a dog, again both allowed to roam

• one escaped on the way to the vet (mom couldn't afford a cat carrier), she was allowed to roam but not very relevant in this case

We have one surviving cat (she's around 15 years old), and now that I know better at 27 years old, she is only allowed out into the enclosed courtyard. She used be allowed to roam and I can see that she wants to go further than the courtyard and give the chance she will but I've made a point that she stays within those specific boundaries.

My brother and his wife have three cats that they've kept indoors since they were kittens and my mom once made a pearl clutching comment of 'can you believe that they have never touched grass'. Yeah, that got a big eye roll from me.

Edit: formatting

I know we're not on people's radar like the three you mentioned, but South Africa also had general elections this year.

The long reigning party lost their majority for the first time since 1994, so the coalition talks were a big deal for a few weeks.