In Such Poor Health I Couldn’t Walk Until a Fellow Passenger Virtually Carried Me to the Toilets.

Back when I was 19 years old, my morning travel involved an express bus. The vehicle was always full and would always be without any seats once I stepped aboard.

One particular morning, I started experiencing incredibly sick while the vehicle lurched around every turn. I kept telling myself to hold on for a few more stops until the bus arrived at my destination, at which point I could rush hurriedly toward the most convenient washroom to throw up.

We were coming down the road leading to the stop when I understood I would not be to hold on. In an instant, it seemed a veil came over me. The world became blank and silent; as if someone muted everything. I said to myself, “I will lose consciousness”.

Fortunately, I stood close to the driver inside the vehicle, so I managed a few steps toward the driver and requested that the driver to pull over, explaining to him that I was about to vomit. He promptly opened the bus doors and I hurriedly stepped onto the sidewalk.

I was determined to avoid being sick in front of a busy multi-lane road, so I forced myself up and started trying to walk across to the park across the road, thinking I could I’d at least be able to discreetly hide behind a bush to throw up. But then I apparently lost consciousness. I sensed my limbs, but walking was impossible or see clearly, so I started crawling towards my intended destination.

“Everything alright, love?”

In that instant, I was lifted up. There was someone holding me and a stranger inquired, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the mysterious stranger that I required to vomit. So he virtually supported my weight down into a close-by structure and placed me inside the women’s restroom. He asked me if I needed him to remain with me but I said no.

After a short while, I had recovered to the point of sitting down and from the other side of the door I heard his voice asking, “Do you need anything, love? Do you need anything?” I was incapable to rise just then but did manage to express my gratitude and after a few more minutes was able to move my limbs. I made my way home and then spent the next few days recovering from which was a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I never saw the stranger’s face – merely his legs and the big steelwork tools container he held – yet he rescued me, at a moment I was in my weakest state.

Frequently, society tends to make people self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His was the sort of gesture that reverses that protective shell. He demonstrated that humanity’s innate tendency leans toward compassion, a quality I adore about my fellow humans.