In Such Poor Health Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Virtually Carried Me to a Restroom.
At the age of nineteenth year, my morning travel involved an express bus. It was perpetually full and was consistently completely full once I stepped aboard.
During a certain commute, I was feeling incredibly sick when the coach swayed around every turn. I kept telling myself to endure another few kilometres before the bus reached my stop, and then I could sprint quickly for the nearest washroom to vomit.
We were coming down the avenue close to the stop when it dawned on me I was unable to make it. All of a sudden, it seemed a curtain fell over me. Everything just went blank and silent; similar to when one turned off the audio. I thought, “I will lose consciousness”.
Fortunately, I stood close to the driver on the bus, allowing me to take several steps to ask the driver and asked the driver to stop, telling him I needed to be sick. He opened the entrance and I weakly exited on to the pavement.
My intention was to avoid being sick in front of six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and started trying to make my way across to the park on the other side, where I thought I’d at least be able to discreetly hide among some shrubs to vomit. Yet I apparently blacked out. I was aware of my body but I was unable to walk or see clearly, so I started dragging myself toward the park.
“Everything alright, love?”
In that instant, I got scooped up. I felt a strong arm supporting me and heard a man say, “Are you okay, dear?” I explained to this kind passerby that I needed to get to a bathroom. Therefore, he almost carried me into a nearby building and placed me into the female bathroom. He asked me if I needed him to remain with me but I declined.
Not long after, I felt better to the point of sitting down and from outside the door came him inquire, “Do you need anything, love? Can I get you something?” I wasn’t able to stand up just then but I did succeed to express my gratitude and shortly thereafter regained the function of my legs. I made my way home passing the following days recovering from what was later diagnosed as a horrible case of gastroenteritis.
I did not see that man’s face – just his lower half and a large steelwork tools container he held – but he saved me, at a moment I was at my most vulnerable.
Frequently, society has a way of making you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His act was the type of kindness that reverses that emotional callousness. He was proof that humanity’s innate tendency is towards kindness, a quality I adore in other people.
