Feeling So Sick I Couldn’t Walk When a Man Virtually Carried Me to the Toilets.

During my my late teens, my daily commute involved an packed public transport. It was perpetually full and was consistently standing room only once I got on.

On one specific day, I was feeling quite nauseous when the coach rocked around every turn. I kept telling myself to persevere another few kilometres before the bus got to my stop, at which point I could make a mad dash for the nearest public toilet to throw up.

As we neared the road leading to my stop and I understood I was unable to last. In an instant, it seemed a curtain fell over me. The world became hazy and muffled; like someone had cut the sound. My mind raced, “I will lose consciousness”.

Fortunately, I stood near the front on the bus, so I managed several steps forward and told the operator to pull over, explaining to him that I was about to be sick. He opened the bus doors and I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.

I was resolved to avoid being sick in front of six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and began attempting to stumble toward the green space on the other side, thinking I could it would allow me to find some privacy behind a bush to be sick. Yet I apparently fainted. I sensed my body but I couldn’t walk or see clearly, so I started crawling towards the park.

“Are you okay, dear?”

At that moment, someone picked me up. I sensed someone holding me and a stranger inquired, “Everything alright, love?” I managed to tell the mysterious stranger that I needed to vomit. Therefore, he almost helped me walk into an adjacent building and put me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me if I wanted him to wait for me but I refused.

A few minutes later, I felt better enough to sit on the restroom floor and from outside the door came him inquire, “Are you OK, love? Is there anything you require?” I could not to stand up at that moment but did manage to thank him and following a brief period was able to move my limbs. I returned home and spent the following days getting over what turned out to be a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I never saw that man’s face – just his lower half along with a sizable container for tools he held – but he helped me, when I was at my most vulnerable.

Many times, life can make you guarded, hostile, and combative. His act was the type of kindness that melts away that hardening of the heart. He served as evidence that humanity’s innate tendency leans toward compassion, something I love in other people.