In Such Poor Health I Was Unable to Walk As a Stranger Practically Supported Me to a Bathroom.

At the age of nineteenth year, my morning travel meant taking an packed public transport. It remained crowded and would always be standing room only once I stepped aboard.

During a certain commute, I was feeling quite nauseous when the coach swayed around every turn. I repeatedly told myself to hold on just a little longer before the bus got to where I needed to get off, so I could then make a mad dash toward the most convenient public restroom to vomit.

As we neared the street towards the stop when I understood I wasn’t going to make it. Suddenly, it felt as if a veil came over me. My vision turned blank and silent; as if someone cut the sound. I said to myself, “I am about to pass out”.

Thankfully, I was positioned close to the driver inside the vehicle, so I took a few steps toward the driver and asked the driver to open the doors, informing him I was going to be sick. He promptly opened the entrance and I hurriedly stepped out onto the street.

I was resolved to avoid being sick before six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and endeavored to walk toward the green space across the road, thinking I could I could at least secretly conceal myself near some foliage to throw up. Yet I apparently blacked out. I sensed my limbs, but I was unable to walk or see properly, so I began crawling towards the grassy area.

“Everything alright, love?”

At that moment, I was lifted up. I felt someone holding me and heard a man say, “Everything alright, love?” I told this unknown man that I needed to be sick. So he virtually helped me walk over to a close-by structure and put me into the female bathroom. He inquired whether I required him to wait for me but I refused.

A few minutes later, I had recovered sufficiently to sit down and from the other side of the door I heard his voice asking, “Do you need anything, love? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to rise just then but I did succeed to say thank you and shortly thereafter regained the function of my feet. I got myself home passing several days getting over what was later diagnosed as a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I never glimpsed that man’s face – merely his legs and the big metal toolbox he was carrying – yet he rescued me, when I was in my weakest state.

Often this world has a way of making you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His was the sort of gesture that reverses that protective shell. He was proof that humanity’s innate tendency is to be kind, something I love in other people.