I Was So Ill Walking Was Impossible As a Stranger Essentially Lifted Me to the Toilets.
Back when I was my late teens, my daily commute was on an packed public transport. The vehicle was always crowded and invariably became without any seats once I boarded.
On one specific day, I started experiencing quite nauseous when the coach rocked around the bends. I kept telling myself to hold on another few kilometres before the bus arrived at my stop, at which point I could make a mad dash for the nearest public restroom to vomit.
We were coming down the road leading to the destination as I understood I would not be to last. All of a sudden, it felt as if a fog descended upon me. The world became white and really quiet; as if someone cut the sound. My mind raced, “I am about to pass out”.
Luckily I was toward the front of the bus, so I managed a couple of steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to open the doors, informing him I needed to get ill. He opened the bus doors and I hurriedly stepped out onto the street.
I was resolved to not get sick in front of six lanes of traffic, so I forced myself up and endeavored to stumble to the park across the road, where I believed I could at least find some privacy among some shrubs to throw up. Yet I likely lost consciousness. I sensed my physical self, yet walking was impossible or see clearly, so I began dragging myself toward the grassy area.
“Everything alright, love?”
Right then, someone picked me up. There was an arm around my waist and heard a man say, “You right, love?” I told this kind passerby that I needed to vomit. So he virtually carried me into a nearby building and guided me inside the women’s restroom. He asked me whether I required him to stay with me but I said no.
A few minutes later, I felt better to the point of sitting on the restroom floor when from beyond the stall I heard him ask, “Do you need anything, love? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to stand up right away but I did succeed to thank him and after a few more minutes regained the function of my feet. I returned home passing the following days healing from what turned out to be a severe stomach virus.
I never saw his features – only his legs and the big container for tools he was carrying – but he helped me, at a moment I was completely helpless.
Frequently, society has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. His was the sort of gesture that reverses that emotional callousness. He served as evidence that our default setting is towards kindness, a quality I adore about humanity.
