I Was So Ill Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Practically Supported Me to a Bathroom.
During my my late teens, my daily commute was on an packed public transport. It was perpetually full and was consistently standing room only once I boarded.
During a certain commute, I was feeling incredibly sick as the bus swayed around the bends. I kept telling myself to endure for a few more stops until the bus reached my destination, at which point I could make a mad dash for the nearest public toilet to be sick.
The bus was approaching the avenue close to the stop when I realised I would not be to make it. Suddenly, it was like a curtain fell over me. The world became hazy and muffled; like someone had turned off the audio. I said to myself, “I will lose consciousness”.
Fortunately, I stood close to the driver on the bus, so I managed a couple of steps to ask the driver and told the operator to open the doors, telling him that I was about to get ill. The driver opened the entrance and I weakly exited on to the pavement.
My intention was not to vomit before a busy multi-lane road, so I picked myself up and began attempting to stumble to the park opposite the street, thinking I could it would allow me to find some privacy among some shrubs to vomit. However I likely lost consciousness. I was aware of my limbs, but I was unable to walk or see clearly, leading me to start inching my way to my intended destination.
“Everything alright, love?”
In that instant, I got scooped up. There was someone holding me and a stranger inquired, “Everything alright, love?” I managed to tell the mysterious stranger that I required to get to a bathroom. Therefore, he almost helped me walk into an adjacent building and guided me in the ladies’ toilets. He inquired if I needed him to remain with me but I refused.
After a short while, I had recovered sufficiently to sit on the restroom floor and from the other side of the door came him inquire, “Are you feeling better, dear? Can I get you something?” I could not to get up at that moment but did manage to say thank you and after a few more minutes regained the function of my legs. I got myself home and then spent several days healing from what turned out to be a severe stomach virus.
I did not see the stranger’s face – just his lower half along with a sizable steelwork tools container he had with him – yet he rescued me, at a moment 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 was proof that humanity’s innate tendency is to be kind, something I love about my fellow humans.
