Feeling So Sick I Was Unable to Walk As a Stranger Essentially Lifted Me to a Restroom.

At the age of 19 years old, my regular journey to work was on an packed public transport. It was perpetually crowded and would always be standing room only when I stepped aboard.

On one specific day, I started experiencing incredibly sick as the bus swayed around the bends. I kept telling myself to hold on just a little longer until the bus reached my stop, at which point I could sprint quickly toward the most convenient public restroom to be sick.

As we neared the street towards my stop and I realised I wasn’t going to hold on. All of a sudden, it was like a curtain fell over me. Everything just went white and really quiet; similar to when one cut the sound. I said to myself, “I’m going to faint”.

Luckily I was toward the front of the bus, so I managed a couple of steps forward and asked the driver to stop, informing him I was going to be sick. The driver opened the doors and I stumbled out on to the pavement.

My intention was to avoid being sick in front of a busy multi-lane road, so I picked myself up and endeavored to walk toward the green space on the other side, where I thought I’d at least be able to find some privacy among some shrubs to be sick. But then I apparently lost consciousness. I was aware of my body but walking was impossible or see clearly, so I started crawling towards my intended destination.

“Everything alright, love?”

In that instant, I was lifted up. I felt an arm around my waist and a stranger inquired, “Are you okay, dear?” I explained to this mysterious stranger that I needed to be sick. Therefore, he almost carried me into a close-by structure and guided me in the ladies’ toilets. He inquired whether I required him to remain with me but I said no.

Not long after, I had recovered sufficiently to sit on the toilet and from outside the door came his voice asking, “Do you need anything, love? Do you need anything?” I wasn’t able to get up right away but I was able to thank him and after a few more minutes regained the function of my limbs. I made my way home and then spent several days healing from what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.

I never saw his features – merely his legs and a large container for tools he had with him – yet he rescued me, at a moment I was at my most vulnerable.

Many times, life can make you guarded, hostile, and combative. His act was the type of kindness that reverses that hardening of the heart. He was proof that humanity’s innate tendency is to be kind, a trait I cherish about humanity.