I Was So Ill Walking Was Impossible When a Man Practically Supported Me to the Toilets.
During my 19 years old, my daily commute involved an packed public transport. The vehicle was always crowded and would always be without any seats when I stepped aboard.
On one specific day, I started experiencing quite nauseous while the vehicle swayed around the bends. I kept telling myself to hold on for a few more stops so the bus could arrived at my stop, at which point I could sprint quickly to the closest public restroom to throw up.
We were coming down the avenue close to the stop when I understood I wasn’t going to last. In an instant, it was like a veil came over me. My vision turned blank and silent; similar to when one cut the sound. My mind raced, “I will lose consciousness”.
Fortunately, I stood near the front inside the vehicle, so I took several steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to open the doors, explaining to him that I was about to vomit. The driver opened the entrance and I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.
I was determined to not get sick before multiple lanes of cars, so I picked myself up and began attempting to walk across to the park opposite the street, where I thought it would allow me to find some privacy behind a bush to vomit. However I likely lost consciousness. I sensed my limbs, but walking was impossible and my vision was blurry, so I started inching my way to the grassy area.
“You right, love?”
In that instant, I got scooped up. I sensed a strong arm supporting me and a man’s voice asked, “Everything alright, love?” I told this unknown man that I had to to be sick. Therefore, he almost helped me walk down into a nearby building and put me inside the women’s restroom. He wanted to know if I needed him to stay with me but I said no.
A few minutes later, I had recovered enough to sit on the restroom floor and from outside the stall I heard him ask, “Are you OK, love? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to get up just then but I did succeed to say thank you and following a brief period regained the function of my legs. I returned home and then spent several days healing from what turned out to be a nasty tummy bug.
I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – only his legs and the big metal toolbox he held – yet he rescued me, at a moment I was at my most vulnerable.
Often this world has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that undoes that emotional callousness. He served as evidence that humanity’s innate tendency is to be kind, something I love in other people.
