In Such Poor Health Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Virtually Carried Me to the Toilets.

At the age of my late teens, my morning travel was on an crowded coach. It remained jammed and invariably became completely full when I got on.

On one specific day, I started experiencing incredibly sick while the vehicle rocked around each corner. I kept telling myself to hold on for a few more stops so the bus could got to where I needed to get off, and then I could rush hurriedly for the nearest public restroom to vomit.

As we neared the road leading to my stop and it dawned on me I would not be to hold on. Suddenly, it seemed a fog descended upon me. My vision turned hazy and muffled; like someone had turned off the audio. I thought, “I am about to pass out”.

Fortunately, I stood toward the front on the bus, so I took several steps toward the driver and asked the driver to open the doors, informing him I was going to be sick. He promptly opened the bus doors and I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.

I was determined not to vomit in front of six lanes of traffic, so I picked myself up and endeavored to walk to the park opposite the street, where I thought it would allow me to find some privacy behind a bush to throw up. But then I likely lost consciousness. I was aware of my limbs, but I couldn’t walk 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, “Are you okay, dear?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I required to get to a bathroom. Thus, he practically carried me over to a nearby building and guided me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me whether I required him to wait for me but I refused.

Not long after, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit on the toilet when from beyond the stall I heard his voice asking, “Do you need anything, love? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to rise right away but I was able to say thank you and following a brief period regained the function of my legs. I returned home passing the next few days healing from what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.

I never saw that man’s face – just his lower half and the big metal toolbox he was carrying – but he saved me, when I was completely helpless.

Often this world has a way of making you defensive, aggressive and competitive. His was the sort of gesture that undoes that emotional callousness. He was proof that people’s natural inclination is to be kind, something I love about humanity.