In Such Poor Health I Couldn’t Walk As a Stranger Essentially Lifted Me to the Toilets.

During my nineteenth year, my morning travel involved an express bus. The vehicle was always jammed and invariably became completely full once I got on.

During a certain commute, I started experiencing quite nauseous when the coach lurched around the bends. I kept telling myself to endure another few kilometres before the bus got to my destination, so I could then make a mad dash for the nearest public restroom to throw up.

The bus was approaching the road leading to the destination as I understood I was unable to hold on. Suddenly, it seemed a veil came over me. Everything just went white and really quiet; as if someone turned off the audio. My mind raced, “I am about to pass out”.

Fortunately, I stood close to the driver on the bus, so I took several steps toward the driver and asked the driver to stop, explaining to him I needed to vomit. He promptly opened the entrance and I stumbled out on to the pavement.

I was determined not to vomit before a busy multi-lane road, so I gathered myself and started trying to make my way across to the park on the other side, thinking I could it would allow me to find some privacy behind a bush to vomit. However I apparently fainted. I could feel my body but I was unable to walk or see clearly, leading me to start dragging myself toward the grassy area.

“Are you okay, dear?”

Right then, I got scooped up. There was an arm around my waist and heard a man say, “You right, love?” I explained to this unknown man that I needed to vomit. So he virtually supported my weight over to an adjacent building and guided me inside the women’s restroom. He wanted to know whether I required him to stay with me but I refused.

After a short while, I had recovered to the point of sitting down when from beyond the door came him ask, “Are you OK, love? Can I get you something?” I wasn’t able to rise right away but I did succeed to express my gratitude and after a few more minutes recovered the use of my feet. I made my way home passing several days healing from what turned out to be a nasty tummy bug.

I never saw his features – just his lower half along with a sizable metal toolbox he had with him – yet he rescued me, when I was in my weakest state.

Frequently, society has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that undoes that protective shell. He was proof that humanity’s innate tendency is to be kind, something I love about my fellow humans.