Feeling So Sick I Couldn’t Walk When a Man Practically Supported Me to the Toilets.

At the age of 19 years old, my daily commute involved an express bus. It remained full and was consistently completely full once I stepped aboard.

One particular morning, I began feeling incredibly sick while the vehicle rocked around every turn. I continuously reassured myself to hold on for a few more stops until the bus got to my destination, and then I could make a mad dash toward the most convenient washroom to throw up.

As we neared the road leading to the stop when I understood I was unable to hold on. Suddenly, it was like a fog descended upon me. The world became white and really quiet; like someone had cut the sound. I thought, “I am about to pass out”.

Luckily I was close to the driver inside the vehicle, so I managed a couple of steps forward and told the operator to pull over, informing him I was going to get ill. He promptly opened the bus doors and I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.

I was resolved to avoid being sick in front of six lanes of traffic, so I picked myself up and started trying to stumble across to the park opposite the street, where I thought I could at least discreetly hide among some shrubs to vomit. Yet I likely fainted. I sensed my body but I couldn’t walk or see properly, so I started crawling towards the grassy area.

“Are you okay, dear?”

Right then, I was lifted up. I felt a strong arm supporting me and heard a man say, “Everything alright, love?” I explained to this kind passerby that I required to be sick. Therefore, he almost supported my weight into an adjacent building and put me into the female bathroom. He asked me if I needed him to remain with me but I refused.

A few minutes later, I felt better enough to sit on the restroom floor and from outside the door came him inquire, “Do you need anything, love? Do you need anything?” I wasn’t able to stand up right away but I did succeed to thank him and after a few more minutes recovered the use of my legs. I made my way home passing the next few days getting over what was later diagnosed as a nasty tummy bug.

I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – only his legs and the big container for tools he had with him – yet he rescued me, during a time when I was completely helpless.

Often this world tends to make people self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His was the sort of gesture that undoes that emotional callousness. He was proof that people’s natural inclination is towards kindness, something I love about my fellow humans.