In Such Poor Health I Couldn’t Walk As a Stranger Practically Supported Me to the Toilets.

During my nineteenth year, my morning travel was on an express bus. It was perpetually full and was consistently completely full once I got on.

During a certain commute, I was feeling quite nauseous when the coach lurched around each corner. I repeatedly told myself to persevere just a little longer until the bus arrived at where I needed to get off, and then I could rush hurriedly for the nearest public toilet to vomit.

The bus was approaching the road leading to the stop when I realised I was unable to last. All of a sudden, it was like a curtain fell over me. The world became hazy and muffled; like someone had cut the sound. I said to myself, “I am about to pass out”.

Thankfully, I was positioned close to the driver of the bus, so I took a few steps forward and asked the driver to open the doors, explaining to him I needed to vomit. The driver opened the bus doors and I weakly exited out onto the street.

I was determined to not get sick in view of a busy multi-lane road, so I picked myself up and endeavored to make my way toward the green space opposite the street, thinking I could it would allow me to discreetly hide among some shrubs to vomit. But then I must have fainted. I was aware of my limbs, but walking was impossible and my vision was blurry, leading me to start crawling towards the park.

“Are you okay, dear?”

In that instant, someone picked me up. There was someone holding me and a stranger inquired, “You right, love?” I told this mysterious stranger that I required to get to a bathroom. Therefore, he almost carried me down into a nearby building and guided me inside the women’s restroom. He asked me if I wanted him to wait for me but I refused.

After a short while, I felt better to the point of sitting on the restroom floor when from beyond the stall I heard him ask, “Are you OK, love? Is there anything you require?” I could not to stand up just then but did manage to say thank you and after a few more minutes recovered the use of my limbs. I got myself home and spent several days healing from what turned out to be a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I never glimpsed that man’s face – merely his legs and a large container for tools he held – yet he rescued me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.

Often this world has a way of making you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His act was the type of kindness that melts away that emotional callousness. He demonstrated that our default setting is to be kind, something I love about my fellow humans.