I Was So Ill I Was Unable to Walk As a Stranger Virtually Carried Me to the Toilets.
At the age of my late teens, my morning travel meant taking an crowded coach. The vehicle was always full and was consistently completely full once I got on.
During a certain commute, I began feeling quite nauseous as the bus swayed around the bends. I continuously reassured myself to endure another few kilometres so the bus could got to where I needed to get off, so I could then make a mad dash toward the most convenient public toilet to be sick.
We were coming down the road leading to the destination as I understood I would not be to make it. Suddenly, it seemed a curtain fell over me. The world became hazy and muffled; similar to when one muted everything. My mind raced, “I am about to pass out”.
Fortunately, I stood near the front on the bus, so I managed a couple of steps forward and told the operator to open the doors, telling him I was going to get ill. He opened the bus doors and I hurriedly stepped out onto the street.
I was resolved not to vomit before a busy multi-lane road, so I gathered myself and endeavored to walk to the park across the road, where I thought I could at least secretly conceal myself among some shrubs to vomit. Yet I apparently blacked out. I sensed my limbs, but I was unable to walk or see properly, so I began crawling towards my intended destination.
“Everything alright, love?”
Right then, someone picked me up. I felt someone holding me and a stranger inquired, “Are you okay, dear?” I told this mysterious stranger that I had to to get to a bathroom. Therefore, he almost supported my weight over to an adjacent building and put me into the female bathroom. He wanted to know whether I required him to stay with me but I refused.
A few minutes later, I regained my composure to the point of sitting on the restroom floor and from the other side of the stall I heard him ask, “Do you need anything, love? Is there anything you require?” I could not to stand up at that moment but I was able to thank him and shortly thereafter recovered the use of my legs. I returned home passing several days recovering from what turned out to be a horrible case of gastroenteritis.
I never saw that man’s face – merely his legs along with a sizable container for tools he was carrying – but he helped me, when I was in my weakest state.
Frequently, society can make you guarded, hostile, and combative. His act was the type of kindness that undoes that protective shell. He served as evidence that our default setting leans toward compassion, something I love about humanity.