In Such Poor Health I Couldn’t Walk As a Stranger Practically Supported Me to the Toilets.

Back when I was 19 years old, my regular journey to work meant taking an crowded coach. It was perpetually crowded and was consistently without any seats once I boarded.

During a certain commute, I began feeling terribly ill as the bus swayed around each corner. I kept telling myself to hold on another few kilometres so the bus could arrived at where I needed to get off, and then I could rush hurriedly to the closest public toilet to be sick.

We were coming down the road leading to my stop and it dawned on me I wasn’t going to make it. In an instant, it seemed a fog descended upon me. The world became white and really quiet; as if someone muted everything. I thought, “I will lose consciousness”.

Luckily I was toward the front of the bus, so I took a couple of steps forward and requested that the driver to stop, telling him that I was about to vomit. He opened the entrance and I stumbled out on to the pavement.

I was determined not to vomit in front of a busy multi-lane road, so I picked myself up and started trying to stumble to the park across the road, where I believed I’d at least be able to secretly conceal myself among some shrubs to vomit. But then I likely blacked out. I could feel my limbs, but I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, so I started dragging myself toward my intended destination.

“Everything alright, love?”

At that moment, I got scooped up. I felt a strong arm supporting me and heard a man say, “Everything alright, love?” I told this kind passerby that I needed to be sick. Therefore, he almost carried me down into an adjacent building and guided me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me if I needed him to stay with 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 came him ask, “Are you OK, love? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to rise right away but I was able to thank him and following a brief period recovered the use of my limbs. I got myself home and then spent several days recovering from which was a severe stomach virus.

I never saw that man’s face – merely his legs and the big metal toolbox he held – yet he rescued me, when I was at my most vulnerable.

Many times, life has a way of making you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. What he did was the kind of action that undoes that protective shell. He demonstrated that humanity’s innate tendency is towards kindness, a quality I adore about my fellow humans.