In Such Poor Health I Couldn’t Walk Until a Fellow Passenger Essentially Lifted Me to the Toilets.
Back when I was my late teens, my morning travel meant taking an express bus. It was perpetually jammed and was consistently without any seats when I stepped aboard.
One particular morning, I began feeling quite nauseous while the vehicle swayed around the bends. I repeatedly told myself to persevere just a little longer so the bus could got to my stop, so I could then rush hurriedly for the nearest public toilet to be sick.
We were coming down the street towards my stop and I understood I wasn’t going to last. Suddenly, it was like a curtain fell over me. Everything just went blank and silent; similar to when one muted everything. I said to myself, “I’m going to faint”.
Luckily I was near the front inside the vehicle, so I took a few steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to pull over, informing him I needed to vomit. He promptly opened the bus doors and I hurriedly stepped onto the sidewalk.
My intention was to avoid being sick in view of multiple lanes of cars, so I gathered myself and started trying to stumble across to the park on the other side, where I believed it would allow me to discreetly hide near some foliage to be sick. However I apparently fainted. I sensed my body but I was unable to walk or see properly, so I started crawling towards the park.
“You right, love?”
In that instant, I was lifted up. There was a strong arm supporting me and a man’s voice asked, “Are you okay, dear?” I managed to tell the mysterious stranger that I required to vomit. Thus, he practically carried me over to a nearby building and guided me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me whether I required him to stay with me but I declined.
After a short while, I had recovered sufficiently to sit down and from the other side of the stall I heard him ask, “Do you need anything, love? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to stand up just then but did manage to say thank you and shortly thereafter regained the function of my feet. I made my way home and spent several days healing from what was later diagnosed as a horrible case of gastroenteritis.
I never glimpsed that man’s face – merely his legs and a large steelwork tools container he held – but he saved me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.
Often this world tends to make people defensive, aggressive and competitive. His act was the type of kindness that melts away that emotional callousness. He demonstrated that humanity’s innate tendency leans toward compassion, something I love about my fellow humans.