I Was So Ill Walking Was Impossible As a Stranger Practically Supported Me to a Restroom.

At the age of nineteenth year, my morning travel was on an express bus. It was perpetually jammed and would always be completely full once I boarded.

During a certain commute, I started experiencing terribly ill when the coach lurched around each corner. I continuously reassured myself to hold on another few kilometres before the bus arrived at my stop, so I could then make a mad dash to the closest washroom to be sick.

As we neared the street towards the destination as I realised I wasn’t going to hold on. Suddenly, it seemed a curtain fell over me. The world became hazy and muffled; like someone had turned off the audio. My mind raced, “I am about to pass out”.

Fortunately, I stood toward the front inside the vehicle, so I took several steps toward the driver and told the operator to open the doors, informing him I was going to vomit. The driver opened the bus doors and I stumbled out on to the pavement.

I was resolved to avoid being sick before a busy multi-lane road, so I forced myself up and started trying to make my way to the park opposite the street, where I believed I could at least find some privacy among some shrubs to vomit. Yet I must have fainted. I was aware of my limbs, but walking was impossible or see properly, so I began dragging myself toward the park.

“Everything alright, love?”

At that moment, someone picked me up. I sensed a strong arm supporting me and a stranger inquired, “You right, love?” I told this mysterious stranger that I needed to get to a bathroom. Therefore, he almost carried me into a close-by structure and placed me in the ladies’ toilets. He wanted to know if I needed him to wait for me but I refused.

Not long after, I felt better to the point of sitting on the restroom floor when from beyond the door came him inquire, “Are you feeling better, dear? Do you need anything?” I wasn’t able to stand up at that moment but I was able to say thank you and after a few more minutes regained the function of my feet. I got myself home passing several days recovering from what was later diagnosed as a nasty tummy bug.

I did not see the stranger’s face – only his legs along with a sizable metal toolbox he had with him – yet he rescued me, during a time when I was completely helpless.

Often this world has a way of making you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His was the sort of gesture that melts away that protective shell. He demonstrated that our default setting is towards kindness, a quality I adore in other people.