Feeling So Sick I Couldn’t Walk When a Man Practically Supported Me to the Toilets.

During my my late teens, my daily commute meant taking an express bus. It remained full and was consistently completely full by the time I boarded.

On one specific day, I began feeling quite nauseous when the coach rocked around each corner. I kept telling myself to persevere for a few more stops until the bus reached my destination, and then I could sprint quickly for the nearest public restroom to be sick.

The bus was approaching the street towards my stop and I understood I would not be to hold on. In an instant, it was like a curtain fell over me. The world became blank and silent; like someone had turned off the audio. I said to myself, “I’m going to faint”.

Fortunately, I stood near the front of the bus, so I took a few steps forward and told the operator to pull over, informing him I was going to vomit. He opened the entrance and I weakly exited on to the pavement.

I was resolved to not get sick before a busy multi-lane road, so I forced myself up and began attempting to walk across to the park across the road, where I believed I’d at least be able to find some privacy near some foliage to throw up. But then I apparently lost consciousness. I sensed my body but I was unable to walk or see clearly, so I started inching my way to my intended destination.

“Everything alright, love?”

At that moment, I was lifted up. I sensed someone holding me and a stranger inquired, “Everything alright, love?” I told this kind passerby that I required to be sick. Therefore, he almost carried me down into an adjacent building and placed me inside the women’s restroom. He wanted to know whether I required him to wait for me but I said no.

A few minutes later, I had recovered to the point of sitting on the toilet and from the other side of the door I heard his voice asking, “Do you need anything, love? Is there anything you require?” I wasn’t able to rise at that moment but I did succeed to express my gratitude and after a few more minutes was able to move my legs. I returned home passing the next few days healing from what was later diagnosed as a nasty tummy bug.

I did not see the stranger’s face – only his legs and a large container for tools he held – yet he rescued me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.

Frequently, society tends to make people defensive, aggressive and competitive. What he did was the kind of action that reverses that emotional callousness. He served as evidence that our default setting is to be kind, something I love in other people.