In Such Poor Health I Couldn’t Walk Until a Fellow Passenger Essentially Lifted Me to a Bathroom.

At the age of my late teens, my regular journey to work was on an express bus. It was perpetually full and was consistently standing room only by the time I boarded.

One particular morning, I began feeling quite nauseous as the bus lurched around the bends. I repeatedly told myself to endure another few kilometres before the bus got to my stop, and then I could sprint quickly for the nearest washroom to throw up.

The bus was approaching the avenue close to the destination as I realised I wasn’t going to last. Suddenly, it seemed a fog descended upon me. Everything just went blank and silent; like someone had cut the sound. I said to myself, “I will lose consciousness”.

Thankfully, I was positioned toward the front of the bus, so I managed a few steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to open the doors, telling him I was going to be sick. He promptly opened the doors and I hurriedly stepped out onto the street.

I was determined to avoid being sick in view of six lanes of traffic, so I forced myself up and started trying to make my way toward the green space across the road, where I believed I could at least find some privacy near some foliage to be sick. Yet I apparently fainted. I was aware of my limbs, but I couldn’t walk or see properly, leading me to start dragging myself toward the park.

“Are you okay, dear?”

At that moment, someone picked me up. There was a strong arm supporting me and a stranger inquired, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the unknown man that I required to vomit. Thus, he practically helped me walk into an adjacent building and placed me inside the women’s restroom. He asked me if I wanted him to remain with me but I declined.

Not long after, I had recovered sufficiently to sit down when from beyond the stall I heard his voice asking, “Do you need anything, love? Is there anything you require?” I wasn’t able to rise right away but I was able to express my gratitude and shortly thereafter recovered the use of my feet. I returned home and then spent several days recovering from what was later diagnosed as a nasty tummy bug.

I did not see his features – merely his legs and a large steelwork tools container he was carrying – but he helped me, at a moment I was completely helpless.

Often this world can make you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. 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.