In Such Poor Health I Couldn’t Walk When a Man Virtually Carried Me to the Toilets.

Back when I was nineteenth year, my regular journey to work involved an express bus. The vehicle was always jammed and would always be standing room only by the time I boarded.

During a certain commute, I was feeling quite nauseous when the coach swayed around every turn. I continuously reassured myself to endure another few kilometres so the bus could got to where I needed to get off, so I could then sprint quickly for the nearest washroom to throw up.

We were coming down the street towards the stop when it dawned on me I wasn’t going to hold on. Suddenly, it felt as if a curtain fell over me. My vision turned hazy and muffled; as if someone cut the sound. I said to myself, “I am about to pass out”.

Luckily I was toward the front on the bus, so I took a couple of steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to stop, explaining to him that I was about to vomit. He promptly opened the doors and I hurriedly stepped on to the pavement.

I was determined to avoid being sick before six lanes of traffic, so I forced myself up and began attempting to stumble toward the green space on the other side, where I thought it would allow me to find some privacy behind a bush to throw up. But then I apparently lost consciousness. I sensed my body but I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, so I began dragging myself toward my intended destination.

“Are you okay, dear?”

In that instant, I was lifted up. I sensed a strong arm supporting me and a man’s voice asked, “You right, love?” I explained to this unknown man that I needed to get to a bathroom. Therefore, he almost carried me into a close-by structure and placed me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me whether I required him to wait for me but I refused.

A few minutes later, I had recovered enough to sit on the restroom floor when from beyond the stall I heard him ask, “Are you feeling better, dear? Can I get you something?” I could not to get up just then but I was able to say thank you and after a few more minutes recovered the use of my limbs. I returned home and then spent the following days healing from what was later diagnosed as a nasty tummy bug.

I did not see the stranger’s face – only his legs and a large metal toolbox he was carrying – but he saved me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.

Many times, life tends to make people guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that melts away that hardening of the heart. He demonstrated that humanity’s innate tendency is to be kind, something I love in other people.