Feeling So Sick Walking Was Impossible As a Stranger Practically Supported Me to a Bathroom.

During my nineteenth year, my morning travel was on an express bus. It remained full and would always be without any seats once I stepped aboard.

On one specific day, I was feeling incredibly sick when the coach rocked around every turn. I continuously reassured myself to hold on for a few more stops so the bus could reached my stop, so I could then make a mad dash toward the most convenient public toilet to be sick.

The bus was approaching the road leading to my stop and I understood I wasn’t going to hold on. All of a sudden, it was like a curtain fell over me. Everything just went white and really quiet; like someone had muted everything. My mind raced, “I will lose consciousness”.

Thankfully, I was positioned near the front of the bus, allowing me to take several steps forward and told the operator to open the doors, telling him that I was about to be sick. The driver opened the doors and I weakly exited on to the pavement.

I was resolved to avoid being sick before a busy multi-lane road, so I forced myself up and endeavored to stumble to the park across the road, where I believed I’d at least be able to secretly conceal myself behind a bush to be sick. But then I must have lost consciousness. I sensed my limbs, but walking was impossible and my vision was blurry, so I began crawling towards my intended destination.

“Everything alright, love?”

In that instant, someone picked me up. I sensed an arm around my waist and a man’s voice asked, “Everything alright, love?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I had to to vomit. So he virtually supported my weight over to a nearby building and put me in the ladies’ toilets. He wanted to know whether I required him to remain with me but I said no.

A few minutes later, I regained my composure to the point of sitting on the restroom floor and from outside the door I heard him inquire, “Are you OK, love? Do you need anything?” I wasn’t able to rise just then but did manage to express my gratitude and shortly thereafter regained the function of my feet. I made my way home and spent several days healing from what turned out to be a severe stomach virus.

I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – only his legs along with a sizable metal toolbox he was carrying – but he saved me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.

Frequently, society has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. His act was the type of kindness that reverses that hardening of the heart. He demonstrated that our default setting is towards kindness, a trait I cherish about humanity.