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

During my 19 years old, my morning travel was on an packed public transport. The vehicle was always jammed and was consistently completely full once I stepped aboard.

During a certain commute, I began feeling quite nauseous as the bus lurched around each corner. I repeatedly told myself to hold on just a little longer so the bus could got to where I needed to get off, at which point I could make a mad dash for the nearest washroom to be sick.

The bus was approaching the street towards the destination as it dawned on me I wasn’t going to make it. In an instant, it was like a veil came over me. The world became hazy and muffled; like someone had muted everything. I said to myself, “I’m going to faint”.

Luckily I was close to the driver inside the vehicle, so I took a few steps toward the driver and requested that the driver to stop, explaining to him I was going to vomit. He opened the doors and I hurriedly stepped out onto the street.

My intention was to not get sick in view of a busy multi-lane road, so I gathered myself and started trying to make my way across to the park opposite the street, where I believed I could at least discreetly hide among some shrubs to be sick. Yet I apparently lost consciousness. I could feel my limbs, but I was unable to walk or see properly, so I began inching my way to the grassy area.

“You right, love?”

At that moment, I was lifted up. There was an arm around my waist and a man’s voice asked, “Everything alright, love?” I managed to tell the mysterious stranger that I required to get to a bathroom. Therefore, he almost carried me over to a nearby building and guided me into the female bathroom. He asked me whether I required him to stay with me but I refused.

After a short while, I regained my composure to the point of sitting on the restroom floor and from the other side of the stall I heard his voice asking, “Do you need anything, love? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to stand up right away but did manage to thank him and following a brief period regained the function of my limbs. I returned home and then spent the next few days recovering from what was later diagnosed as a nasty tummy bug.

I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – merely his legs and a large steelwork tools container he held – yet he rescued me, during a time when I was completely helpless.

Often this world tends to make people guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that melts away that hardening of the heart. He demonstrated that people’s natural inclination is to be kind, a quality I adore about my fellow humans.