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

At the age of 19 years old, my regular journey to work meant taking an express bus. The vehicle was always jammed and would always be completely full when I boarded.

During a certain commute, I started experiencing incredibly sick as the bus lurched around each corner. I repeatedly told myself to endure just a little longer until the bus reached where I needed to get off, so I could then make a mad dash toward the most convenient public restroom to vomit.

We were coming down the street towards the destination as I realised I wasn’t going to hold on. In an instant, it seemed a veil came over me. The world became white and really quiet; like someone had muted everything. I thought, “I’m going to faint”.

Luckily I was close to the driver inside the vehicle, so I managed a few steps toward the driver and requested that the driver to stop, informing him I needed to be sick. He opened the entrance and I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.

My intention was to not get sick in front of six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and began attempting to walk across to the park opposite the street, where I thought it would allow me to secretly conceal myself among some shrubs to throw up. Yet I must have blacked out. I could feel my limbs, but I was unable to walk or see clearly, so I started crawling towards the park.

“Are you okay, dear?”

At that moment, I was lifted up. I sensed an arm around my waist and heard a man say, “Everything alright, love?” I told this unknown man that I required to be sick. Thus, he practically supported my weight into a close-by structure and guided me inside the women’s restroom. He wanted to know if I wanted him to wait for me but I refused.

Not long after, I had recovered sufficiently to sit on the toilet and from outside the door came him ask, “Are you feeling better, dear? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to get up just then but did manage to say thank you and after a few more minutes was able to move my feet. I made my way home passing the following days recovering from what was later diagnosed as a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I did not see the stranger’s face – only his legs along with a sizable container for tools he had with him – but he saved me, at a moment I was completely helpless.

Often this world has a way of making you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His was the sort of gesture that reverses that emotional callousness. He demonstrated that humanity’s innate tendency is towards kindness, something I love about humanity.