I Was So Ill I Couldn’t Walk When a Man Virtually Carried Me to a Restroom.

During my 19 years old, my daily commute was on an crowded coach. The vehicle was always crowded and invariably became completely full once I got on.

During a certain commute, I started experiencing terribly ill while the vehicle rocked around the bends. I kept telling myself to endure another few kilometres until the bus arrived at my destination, at which point I could make a mad dash for the nearest public toilet to vomit.

The bus was approaching the avenue close to my stop and I realised I wasn’t going to make it. In an instant, it was like a veil came over me. The world became white and really quiet; similar to when one turned off the audio. I thought, “I will lose consciousness”.

Luckily I was toward the front of the bus, so I managed a few steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to pull over, informing him that I was about to get ill. He opened the bus doors and I stumbled out on to the pavement.

My intention was not to vomit in view of six lanes of traffic, so I picked myself up and endeavored to stumble to the park across the road, where I believed I could at least discreetly hide near some foliage to be sick. However I must have blacked out. I was aware of my physical self, yet I was unable to walk or see properly, so I started crawling towards the park.

“Are you okay, dear?”

In that instant, someone picked me up. I felt someone holding me and a stranger inquired, “Everything alright, love?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I needed to get to a bathroom. So he virtually helped me walk over to a close-by structure and put me in the ladies’ toilets. He wanted to know whether I required him to wait for me but I said no.

A few minutes later, I felt better sufficiently to sit on the restroom floor and from outside the stall I heard him inquire, “Are you feeling better, dear? Is there anything you require?” I could not to get up just then but I was able to thank him and after a few more minutes regained the function of my feet. I made my way home and spent the next few days healing from what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.

I did not see the stranger’s face – only his legs and a large container for tools he had with him – but he helped me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.

Frequently, society has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that reverses that protective shell. He demonstrated that people’s natural inclination is to be kind, a trait I cherish about humanity.