I Was So Ill I Was Unable to Walk As a Stranger Essentially Lifted Me to the Toilets.
During my 19 years old, my morning travel meant taking an packed public transport. It remained full and would always be completely full when I boarded.
During a certain commute, I began feeling quite nauseous while the vehicle swayed around the bends. I kept telling myself to endure just a little longer until the bus arrived at my stop, so I could then make a mad dash toward the most convenient public restroom to be sick.
As we neared the street towards the stop when I realised I was unable to hold on. In an instant, it felt as if a fog descended upon me. My vision turned white and really quiet; like someone had muted everything. My mind raced, “I am about to pass out”.
Thankfully, I was positioned near the front inside the vehicle, so I took a few steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to pull over, telling him I needed to get ill. He promptly opened the bus doors and I weakly exited onto the sidewalk.
My intention was not to vomit in view of a busy multi-lane road, so I picked myself up and began attempting to walk to the park opposite the street, where I thought it would allow me to find some privacy near some foliage to be sick. However I must have blacked out. I was aware of my limbs, but walking was impossible and my vision was blurry, so I started crawling towards my intended destination.
“Everything alright, love?”
In that instant, someone picked me up. I felt an arm around my waist and a stranger inquired, “Everything alright, love?” I managed to tell the mysterious stranger that I required to get to a bathroom. Therefore, he almost carried me down into an adjacent building and put me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me whether I required him to stay with me but I declined.
Not long after, I had recovered enough to sit on the toilet when from beyond the door I heard him inquire, “Do you need anything, love? Do you need anything?” I could not to rise right away but did manage to say thank you and shortly thereafter recovered the use of my feet. I got myself home passing the next few days recovering from what turned out to be a nasty tummy bug.
I did not see that man’s face – only his legs and a large container for tools he was carrying – but he saved me, at a moment I was completely helpless.
Many times, life can make you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. What he did was the kind of action that undoes that emotional callousness. He served as evidence that people’s natural inclination leans toward compassion, something I love in other people.
