Feeling So Sick I Couldn’t Walk As a Stranger Practically Supported Me to a Bathroom.
Back when I was my late teens, my regular journey to work involved an packed public transport. The vehicle was always crowded and would always be standing room only when I boarded.
On one specific day, I was feeling incredibly sick while the vehicle rocked around every turn. I repeatedly told myself to hold on just a little longer until the bus got to my stop, at which point I could sprint quickly for the nearest public restroom to be sick.
As we neared the avenue close to the stop when it dawned on me I would not be to last. All of a sudden, it was like a curtain fell over me. My vision turned hazy and muffled; like someone had muted everything. I said to myself, “I will lose consciousness”.
Fortunately, I stood close to the driver inside the vehicle, so I managed several steps forward and told the operator to open the doors, telling him I was going to get ill. The driver opened the entrance and I stumbled out on to the pavement.
I was resolved not to vomit in front of six lanes of traffic, so I picked myself up and began attempting to stumble toward the green space on the other side, where I thought it would allow me to find some privacy near some foliage to throw up. Yet I apparently blacked out. I sensed my body but I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, so I started dragging myself toward the grassy area.
“Everything alright, love?”
In that instant, someone picked me up. I felt someone holding me and a man’s voice asked, “You right, love?” I explained to this unknown man that I had to to be sick. So he virtually supported my weight down into a close-by structure and put me in the ladies’ toilets. He wanted to know whether I required him to wait for me but I refused.
A few minutes later, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit on the toilet and from outside the door I heard his voice asking, “Are you feeling better, dear? Can I get you something?” I wasn’t able to get up at that moment but I was able to express my gratitude and following a brief period recovered the use of my feet. I made my way home and spent the next few days healing from what turned out to be a severe stomach virus.
I never saw the stranger’s face – merely his legs along with a sizable metal toolbox he held – but he helped me, when I was at my most vulnerable.
Many times, life can make you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His was the sort of gesture that undoes that protective shell. He was proof that humanity’s innate tendency is towards kindness, a trait I cherish about my fellow humans.
