Feeling So Sick Walking Was Impossible As a Stranger Essentially Lifted Me to a Restroom.

Back when I was my late teens, my daily commute was on an express bus. It remained crowded and would always be standing room only once I got on.

One particular morning, I began feeling terribly ill when the coach rocked around each corner. I kept telling myself to endure for a few more stops before the bus got to my destination, so I could then sprint quickly to the closest public restroom to vomit.

The bus was approaching the avenue close to the destination as I realised I would not be to last. In an instant, it felt as if a veil came over me. Everything just went blank and silent; like someone had turned off the audio. I said to myself, “I will lose consciousness”.

Fortunately, I stood near the front of the bus, so I took a few steps forward and told the operator to open the doors, explaining to him I needed to vomit. He opened the doors and I hurriedly stepped on to the pavement.

My intention was not to vomit in view of six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and began attempting to make my way across to the park on the other side, where I thought I’d at least be able to find some privacy among some shrubs to vomit. But then I must have blacked out. I sensed my physical self, yet I was unable to walk or see clearly, so I began inching my way to the grassy area.

“You right, love?”

At that moment, I got scooped up. I felt someone holding me and a man’s voice asked, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the mysterious stranger that I had to to get to a bathroom. Thus, he practically supported my weight down into an adjacent building and guided me inside the women’s restroom. He inquired if I wanted him to wait for me but I said no.

Not long after, I had recovered enough to sit on the toilet and from the other side of the stall I heard him inquire, “Are you OK, love? Can I get you something?” I wasn’t able to rise right away but did manage to say thank you and following a brief period regained the function of my limbs. I got myself home and then spent the next few days healing from which was a nasty tummy bug.

I did not see his features – just his lower half along with a sizable steelwork tools container he was carrying – but he helped me, during a time when I was in my weakest state.

Frequently, society can make you defensive, aggressive and competitive. His was the sort of gesture that reverses that protective shell. He was proof that people’s natural inclination is to be kind, a quality I adore about humanity.