In Such Poor Health I Couldn’t Walk Until a Fellow Passenger Virtually Carried Me to a Restroom.

During my nineteenth year, my daily commute involved an express bus. It was perpetually jammed and would always be standing room only by the time I stepped aboard.

During a certain commute, I began feeling quite nauseous when the coach swayed around each corner. I kept telling myself to persevere just a little longer before the bus reached where I needed to get off, at which point I could make a mad dash for the nearest washroom to throw up.

The bus was approaching the road leading to the stop when I understood I would not be to make it. Suddenly, it felt as if a curtain fell over me. Everything just went blank and silent; as if someone turned off the audio. I said to myself, “I am about to pass out”.

Thankfully, I was positioned near the front inside the vehicle, so I took several steps to ask the driver and told the operator to open the doors, telling him that I was about to be sick. He opened the doors and I stumbled out on to the pavement.

I was resolved to not get sick before multiple lanes of cars, so I gathered myself and began attempting to make my way toward the green space on the other side, where I thought it would allow me to find some privacy behind a bush to vomit. However I must have lost consciousness. I sensed my physical self, yet I was unable to walk and my vision was blurry, so I started dragging myself toward the park.

“Everything alright, love?”

Right then, I got scooped up. I sensed someone holding me and a man’s voice asked, “Everything alright, love?” I told this unknown man that I had to to be sick. Thus, he practically carried me into an adjacent building and guided me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me if I needed him to wait for me but I declined.

A few minutes later, I had recovered to the point of sitting on the restroom floor when from beyond the stall I heard him inquire, “Do you need anything, love? Do you need anything?” I could not to get up just then but I did succeed to say thank you and shortly thereafter was able to move my limbs. I returned home and spent the following days recovering from which was a severe stomach virus.

I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – just his lower half and the big container for tools he had with him – but he saved me, when I was completely helpless.

Often this world has a way of making you defensive, aggressive and competitive. His was the sort of gesture that reverses that protective shell. He demonstrated that humanity’s innate tendency is towards kindness, a quality I adore in other people.