I Was So Ill Walking Was Impossible As a Stranger Practically Supported Me to the Toilets.
At the age of my late teens, my morning travel meant taking an express bus. It remained crowded and invariably became standing room only by the time I boarded.
During a certain commute, I started experiencing incredibly sick as the bus rocked around every turn. I repeatedly told myself to hold on for a few more stops until the bus arrived at my stop, at which point I could sprint quickly for the nearest washroom to be sick.
We were coming down the road leading to my stop and I realised I would not be to make it. Suddenly, it felt as if a veil came over me. The world became blank and silent; as if someone muted everything. My mind raced, “I am about to pass out”.
Luckily I was toward the front of the bus, so I managed a few steps toward the driver and told the operator to open the doors, explaining to him I needed to vomit. The driver opened the entrance and I stumbled out out onto the street.
My intention was not to vomit before multiple lanes of cars, so I gathered myself and started trying to make my way across to the park across the road, where I believed I could at least find some privacy among some shrubs to be sick. Yet I likely blacked out. I sensed my limbs, but I couldn’t walk or see clearly, leading me to start crawling towards my intended destination.
“Everything alright, love?”
Right then, I was lifted up. I sensed an arm around my waist and heard a man say, “Everything alright, love?” I told this mysterious stranger that I required to be sick. Thus, he practically helped me walk over to a nearby building and placed me into the female bathroom. He inquired whether I required him to stay with me but I declined.
A few minutes later, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit down and from the other side of the door I heard him inquire, “Do you need anything, love? Do you need anything?” I was incapable to get up at that moment but I was able to thank him and following a brief period regained the function of my legs. I got myself home and spent the next few days recovering from what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.
I did not see the stranger’s face – merely his legs along with a sizable metal toolbox he held – but he saved me, during a time when I was in my weakest state.
Frequently, society can make you defensive, aggressive and competitive. What he did was the kind of action that melts away that emotional callousness. He served as evidence that people’s natural inclination is towards kindness, something I love about my fellow humans.
