Feeling So Sick I Was Unable to Walk When a Man Virtually Carried Me to a Bathroom.
At the age of my late teens, my regular journey to work involved an packed public transport. The vehicle was always jammed and would always be without any seats when I boarded.
During a certain commute, I was feeling incredibly sick as the bus lurched around every turn. I repeatedly told myself to hold on just a little longer until the bus reached my stop, and then I could rush hurriedly for the nearest public restroom to vomit.
The bus was approaching the road leading to my stop and I realised I wasn’t going to last. In an instant, it was like a veil came over me. Everything just went hazy and muffled; like someone had cut the sound. My mind raced, “I am about to pass out”.
Fortunately, I stood close to the driver of the bus, so I managed a few steps forward and told the operator to pull over, telling him I needed to vomit. He opened the bus doors and I weakly exited onto the sidewalk.
I was determined not to vomit before a busy multi-lane road, so I forced myself up and endeavored to stumble across to the park on the other side, thinking I could I could at least discreetly hide near some foliage to be sick. However I apparently fainted. I sensed my physical self, yet I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, leading me to start dragging myself toward the park.
“Everything alright, love?”
At that moment, I was lifted up. I sensed a strong arm supporting me and heard a man say, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the mysterious stranger that I had to to be sick. So he virtually supported my weight into a close-by structure and guided me in the ladies’ toilets. He wanted to know if I needed him to remain with me but I declined.
Not long after, I had recovered enough to sit on the restroom floor when from beyond the stall I heard him inquire, “Do you need anything, love? Do you need anything?” I could not to get up at that moment but I did succeed to thank him and after a few more minutes recovered the use of my limbs. I returned home passing several days recovering from what turned out to be a nasty tummy bug.
I never glimpsed his features – only his legs and the big container for tools he held – but he helped me, during a time when I was completely helpless.
Frequently, society can make you guarded, hostile, and combative. His was the sort of gesture that reverses that hardening of the heart. He served as evidence that our default setting is towards kindness, a quality I adore about my fellow humans.