In Such Poor Health Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Essentially Lifted Me to a Restroom.

Back when I was 19 years old, my morning travel was on an express bus. The vehicle was always full and invariably became standing room only by the time I stepped aboard.

One particular morning, I was feeling quite nauseous while the vehicle swayed around every turn. I repeatedly told myself to endure for a few more stops so the bus could arrived at my stop, at which point I could sprint quickly toward the most convenient public toilet to throw up.

The bus was approaching the avenue close to the stop when it dawned on me I wasn’t going to make it. All of a sudden, it was like a fog descended upon me. Everything just went blank and silent; as if someone cut the sound. My mind raced, “I’m going to faint”.

Thankfully, I was positioned toward the front inside the vehicle, allowing me to take a couple of steps to ask the driver and told the operator to pull over, explaining to him I was going to vomit. He opened the doors and I hurriedly stepped out onto the street.

My intention was to not get sick in view of a busy multi-lane road, so I forced myself up and started trying to walk across to the park across the road, where I thought it would allow me to find some privacy among some shrubs to be sick. Yet I must have blacked out. I sensed my body but I was unable to walk or see clearly, so I started dragging myself toward the grassy area.

“You right, love?”

In that instant, I was lifted up. There was an arm around my waist and a stranger inquired, “Are you okay, dear?” I explained to this kind passerby that I required to be sick. So he virtually helped me walk down into a nearby building and put me inside the women’s restroom. He asked me if I needed him to remain with me but I refused.

After a short while, I felt better enough to sit on the restroom floor and from the other side of the door I heard him ask, “Are you feeling better, dear? Can I get you something?” I could not to get up just then but did manage to express my gratitude and following a brief period regained the function of my limbs. I got myself home and then spent several days recovering from what was later diagnosed as a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I never glimpsed his features – merely his legs along with a sizable metal toolbox he had with him – but he helped me, during a time when I was in my weakest state.

Many times, life can make you guarded, hostile, and combative. His was the sort of gesture that melts away that emotional callousness. He was proof that our default setting leans toward compassion, a quality I adore about my fellow humans.