In Such Poor Health I Was Unable to Walk Until a Fellow Passenger Virtually Carried Me to a Bathroom.

At the age of nineteenth year, my regular journey to work was on an crowded coach. It was perpetually jammed and was consistently standing room only by the time I got on.

One particular morning, I was feeling incredibly sick while the vehicle rocked around each corner. I continuously reassured myself to persevere just a little longer until the bus arrived at where I needed to get off, and then I could sprint quickly to the closest public toilet to throw up.

We were coming down the road leading to the stop when it dawned on me I wasn’t going to hold on. In an instant, it felt as if a curtain fell over me. Everything just went hazy and muffled; as if someone muted everything. I said to myself, “I’m going to faint”.

Fortunately, I stood toward the front on the bus, so I took a couple of steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to stop, telling him I needed to be sick. The driver opened the bus doors and I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.

My intention was not to vomit in front of multiple lanes of cars, so I forced myself up and endeavored to make my way to the park on the other side, where I believed it would allow me to discreetly hide behind a bush to be sick. But then I apparently blacked out. I could feel my physical self, yet walking was impossible or see properly, leading me to start inching my way to the park.

“Everything alright, love?”

In that instant, I got scooped up. I felt a strong arm supporting me and a stranger inquired, “Everything alright, love?” I told this kind passerby that I required to be sick. So he virtually supported my weight over to a close-by structure and placed me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me if I needed him to remain with me but I declined.

Not long after, I regained my composure enough to sit down when from beyond the door I heard him inquire, “Are you feeling better, dear? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to get up right away but did manage to say thank you and following a brief period recovered the use of my legs. I got myself home and spent the following days getting over which was a nasty tummy bug.

I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – just his lower half and the big metal toolbox he had with him – yet he rescued me, at a moment I was at my most vulnerable.

Many times, life can make you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His was the sort of gesture that reverses that protective shell. He was proof that people’s natural inclination is towards kindness, a trait I cherish about my fellow humans.