In Such Poor Health I Was Unable to Walk As a Stranger Practically Supported Me to the Toilets.
Back when I was my late teens, my daily commute was on an express bus. It was perpetually full and invariably became standing room only once I stepped aboard.
During a certain commute, I was feeling terribly ill when the coach lurched around the bends. I repeatedly told myself to endure for a few more stops before the bus arrived at where I needed to get off, so I could then make a mad dash for the nearest public toilet to vomit.
We were coming down the road leading to the destination as it dawned on me I would not be to hold on. Suddenly, it was like a veil came over me. The world became white and really quiet; as if someone muted everything. I said to myself, “I am about to pass out”.
Thankfully, I was positioned near the front inside the vehicle, so I took a couple of steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to pull over, telling him I was going to get ill. He promptly opened the entrance and I weakly exited out onto the street.
I was determined to avoid being sick in front of a busy multi-lane road, so I picked myself up and endeavored to walk to the park on the other side, where I thought it would allow me to secretly conceal myself behind a bush to vomit. Yet I likely lost consciousness. I sensed my limbs, but walking was impossible or see clearly, leading me to start dragging myself toward the grassy area.
“Everything alright, love?”
In that instant, someone picked me up. There was a strong arm supporting me and a man’s voice asked, “Are you okay, dear?” I told this unknown man that I needed to be sick. Therefore, he almost helped me walk down into an adjacent building and guided me into the female bathroom. He wanted to know whether I required him to wait for me but I refused.
Not long after, I regained my composure to the point of sitting on the restroom floor and from the other side of the door came him inquire, “Do you need anything, love? Do you need anything?” I was incapable to rise at that moment but did manage to thank him and shortly thereafter recovered the use of my feet. I made my way home and then spent several days healing from what turned out to be a severe stomach virus.
I never glimpsed that man’s face – just his lower half and the big steelwork tools container he was carrying – yet he rescued me, when I was at my most vulnerable.
Frequently, society has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that melts away that emotional callousness. He demonstrated that people’s natural inclination is to be kind, a quality I adore in other people.