I Was So Ill Walking Was Impossible As a Stranger Virtually Carried Me to a Restroom.

Back when I was 19 years old, my daily commute was on an express bus. It was perpetually full and would always be standing room only once I boarded.

One particular morning, I was feeling quite nauseous when the coach rocked around the bends. I continuously reassured myself to endure just a little longer before the bus arrived at my stop, so I could then rush hurriedly for the nearest public toilet to throw up.

As we neared the street towards the stop when I realised I would not be to make it. In an instant, it was like a curtain fell over me. My vision turned white and really quiet; as if someone turned off the audio. My mind raced, “I’m going to faint”.

Thankfully, I was positioned close to the driver on the bus, allowing me to take a couple of steps toward the driver and told the operator to stop, telling him that I was about to vomit. He opened the bus doors and I hurriedly stepped onto the sidewalk.

My intention was to not get sick in view of a busy multi-lane road, so I forced myself up and began attempting to walk across to the park on the other side, where I believed it would allow me to secretly conceal myself near some foliage to be sick. Yet I must have blacked out. I could feel my physical self, yet I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, so I started dragging myself toward the park.

“Everything alright, love?”

In that instant, I was lifted up. There was an arm around my waist and a man’s voice asked, “Everything alright, love?” I explained to this mysterious stranger that I needed to vomit. Thus, he practically supported my weight over to a nearby building and guided me into the female bathroom. He wanted to know if I needed him to stay with me but I refused.

Not long after, I had recovered sufficiently to sit on the toilet and from the other side of the stall I heard his voice asking, “Do you need anything, love? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to rise just then but I did succeed to say thank you and following a brief period recovered the use of my legs. I returned home and then spent the following days getting over what turned out to be a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I never glimpsed his features – just his lower half and the big metal toolbox he had with him – but he helped me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.

Many times, life tends to make people guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that melts away that protective shell. He was proof that humanity’s innate tendency is to be kind, a quality I adore in other people.