In Such Poor Health Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Virtually Carried Me to a Restroom.

At the age of 19 years old, my daily commute involved an crowded coach. It was perpetually full and would always be without any seats when I stepped aboard.

One particular morning, I was feeling incredibly sick as the bus rocked around every turn. I continuously reassured myself to hold on another few kilometres before the bus got to my destination, at which point I could sprint quickly to the closest public toilet to vomit.

We were coming down the road leading to the stop when it dawned on me I was unable to last. All of a sudden, it seemed a fog descended upon me. My vision turned hazy and muffled; like someone had muted everything. I thought, “I’m going to faint”.

Fortunately, I stood toward the front of the bus, so I managed a few steps to ask the driver and asked the driver to pull over, informing him that I was about to get ill. He promptly opened the doors and I stumbled out out onto the street.

My intention was not to vomit before multiple lanes of cars, so I gathered myself and started trying to stumble toward the green space on the other side, where I believed I could at least discreetly hide among some shrubs to be sick. However I must have fainted. I could feel my limbs, but I was unable to walk or see properly, so I began crawling towards my intended destination.

“Everything alright, love?”

Right then, someone picked me up. I sensed an arm around my waist and heard a man say, “Everything alright, love?” I told this mysterious stranger that I needed to vomit. So he virtually carried me into an adjacent building and placed me inside the women’s restroom. He asked me whether I required him to stay with me but I declined.

After a short while, I felt better to the point of sitting down when from beyond the stall I heard him ask, “Do you need anything, love? Is there anything you require?” I could not to rise just then but I was able to express my gratitude and shortly thereafter recovered the use of my limbs. I returned home and then spent the next few days healing from what was later diagnosed as a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I never saw his features – only his legs and the big metal toolbox he had with him – but he helped me, at a moment I was at my most vulnerable.

Often this world has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that melts away that hardening of the heart. He served as evidence that humanity’s innate tendency is to be kind, a trait I cherish about humanity.