In Such Poor Health I Was Unable to Walk As a Stranger Essentially Lifted Me to the Toilets.
During my my late teens, my morning travel was on an packed public transport. The vehicle was always full and invariably became standing room only when I boarded.
On one specific day, I started experiencing terribly ill as the bus swayed around each corner. I kept telling myself to endure for a few more stops so the bus could got to my stop, at which point I could make a mad dash to the closest public toilet to vomit.
The bus was approaching the avenue close to the destination as I understood I wasn’t going to hold on. All of a sudden, it seemed a curtain fell over me. My vision turned white and really quiet; as if someone turned off the audio. I said to myself, “I’m going to faint”.
Fortunately, I stood toward the front on the bus, so I managed several steps toward the driver and asked the driver to stop, telling him I needed to get ill. The driver opened the bus doors and I weakly exited on to the pavement.
I was resolved to not get sick in view of a busy multi-lane road, so I forced myself up and endeavored to make my way toward the green space opposite the street, where I believed I could at least discreetly hide near some foliage to throw up. But then I must have blacked out. I sensed my limbs, but I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, so I began crawling towards the park.
“You right, love?”
At that moment, I got scooped up. I felt an arm around my waist and a stranger inquired, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the unknown man that I had to to be sick. So he virtually supported my weight over to a nearby building and guided me inside the women’s restroom. He inquired if I wanted him to stay with me but I declined.
After a short while, I had recovered to the point of sitting on the toilet when from beyond the stall I heard him inquire, “Are you feeling better, dear? Do you need anything?” I was incapable to stand up just then but I was able to express my gratitude and shortly thereafter was able to move my feet. I made my way home and then spent the next few days getting over which was a horrible case of gastroenteritis.
I never glimpsed that man’s face – only his legs and a large steelwork tools container he held – yet he rescued me, at a moment I was at my most vulnerable.
Often this world can make you defensive, aggressive and competitive. What he did was the kind of action that undoes that hardening of the heart. He was proof that humanity’s innate tendency is to be kind, something I love in other people.
