In Such Poor Health I Couldn’t Walk Until a Fellow Passenger Essentially Lifted Me to a Bathroom.

Back when I was nineteenth year, my morning travel was on an express bus. It remained full and would always be without any seats once I got on.

One particular morning, I began feeling quite nauseous when the coach lurched around every turn. I kept telling myself to endure for a few more stops until the bus reached my destination, so I could then make a mad dash toward the most convenient public toilet to be sick.

We were coming down the street towards the stop when I understood I would not be to last. Suddenly, it was like a curtain fell over me. The world became white and really quiet; similar to when one muted everything. My mind raced, “I will lose consciousness”.

Thankfully, I was positioned near the front on the bus, so I took a few steps forward and asked the driver to stop, explaining to him I was going to vomit. He opened the bus doors and I hurriedly stepped onto the sidewalk.

I was resolved to not get sick in view of multiple lanes of cars, so I forced myself up and endeavored to stumble toward the green space on the other side, where I thought it would allow me to secretly conceal myself among some shrubs to be sick. However I apparently lost consciousness. I could feel my physical self, yet I couldn’t walk or see clearly, leading me to start dragging myself toward the park.

“Are you okay, dear?”

Right then, I was lifted up. I sensed an arm around my waist and heard a man say, “Everything alright, love?” I told this kind passerby that I required to get to a bathroom. Thus, he practically supported my weight down into an adjacent building and put me in the ladies’ toilets. He wanted to know whether I required him to stay with me but I declined.

After a short while, I regained my composure enough to sit on the toilet and from outside the door came his voice asking, “Are you feeling better, dear? Can I get you something?” I could not to rise at that moment but I was able to say thank you and after a few more minutes recovered the use of my limbs. I made my way home and spent the next few days recovering from what was later diagnosed as a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I did not see his features – just his lower half along with a sizable steelwork tools container he had with him – but he helped me, at a moment I was completely helpless.

Many times, life can make you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His act was the type of kindness that undoes that protective shell. He demonstrated that our default setting is to be kind, a quality I adore about humanity.