In Such Poor Health I Couldn’t Walk Until a Fellow Passenger Essentially Lifted Me to the Toilets.

At the age of 19 years old, my morning travel meant taking an express bus. It was perpetually crowded and would always be standing room only once I got on.

On one specific day, I started experiencing quite nauseous as the bus lurched around the bends. I kept telling myself to persevere for a few more stops before the bus arrived at my stop, at which point I could sprint quickly toward the most convenient public restroom to be sick.

As we neared the avenue close to the destination as it dawned on me I was unable to hold on. Suddenly, it felt as if a curtain fell over me. Everything just went hazy and muffled; as if someone turned off the audio. I thought, “I am about to pass out”.

Thankfully, I was positioned near the front inside the vehicle, so I took a couple of steps forward and told the operator to open the doors, telling him that I was about to be sick. He promptly opened the bus doors and I hurriedly stepped on to the pavement.

I was resolved not to vomit before multiple lanes of cars, so I gathered myself and began attempting to walk toward the green space across the road, where I thought it would allow me to find some privacy among some shrubs to be sick. However I apparently blacked out. I was aware of my body but I was unable to walk or see properly, leading me to start dragging myself toward the park.

“Everything alright, love?”

Right then, I got scooped up. I sensed an arm around my waist and a stranger inquired, “You right, love?” I told this mysterious stranger that I needed to get to a bathroom. Thus, he practically helped me walk down into a close-by structure and placed me inside the women’s restroom. He inquired if I wanted him to stay with me but I refused.

A few minutes later, I felt better to the point of sitting on the toilet and from the other side of the stall I heard him inquire, “Are you OK, love? Do you need anything?” I could not to get up just then but did manage to say thank you and after a few more minutes was able to move my feet. I got myself home and then spent the following days getting over what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.

I never saw the stranger’s face – just his lower half and a large metal toolbox he held – but he helped me, at a moment I was in my weakest state.

Many times, life has a way of making you defensive, aggressive and competitive. What he did was the kind of action that reverses that hardening of the heart. He served as evidence that our default setting is towards kindness, a quality I adore about humanity.