In Such Poor Health I Couldn’t Walk When a Man Essentially Lifted Me to a Restroom.

Back when I was my late teens, my daily commute involved an express bus. It remained jammed and invariably became without any seats when I got on.

During a certain commute, I began feeling incredibly sick as the bus lurched around each corner. I kept telling myself to hold on another few kilometres before the bus got to my stop, so I could then make a mad dash to the closest public restroom to vomit.

We were coming down the street towards the stop when it dawned on me I was unable to hold on. All of a sudden, it felt as if a veil came over me. The world became blank and silent; as if someone muted everything. I thought, “I am about to pass out”.

Luckily I was toward the front on the bus, so I managed a few steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to open the doors, explaining to him I was going to be sick. He opened the doors and I weakly exited out onto the street.

I was resolved not to vomit in view of six lanes of traffic, so I forced myself up and started trying to walk toward the green space on the other side, where I thought it would allow me to discreetly hide behind a bush to throw up. But then I likely fainted. I could feel my limbs, but walking was impossible or see properly, leading me to start crawling towards the park.

“You right, love?”

Right then, I got scooped up. I felt someone holding me and a stranger inquired, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I required to be sick. Therefore, he almost carried me over to a close-by structure and placed me in the ladies’ toilets. He inquired if I wanted him to remain with me but I refused.

Not long after, I felt better to the point of sitting on the toilet when from beyond the stall I heard his voice asking, “Are you OK, love? Is there anything you require?” I was incapable to stand up at that moment but I did succeed to say thank you and shortly thereafter regained the function 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 the stranger’s face – just his lower half along with a sizable container for tools he had with him – but he saved me, during a time when I was completely helpless.

Frequently, society tends to make people guarded, hostile, and combative. His act was the type of kindness that undoes that hardening of the heart. He was proof that our default setting is towards kindness, a quality I adore in other people.