In Such Poor Health Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Essentially Lifted Me to the Toilets.
At the age of 19 years old, my daily commute involved an express bus. It was perpetually full and was consistently completely full once I got on.
One particular morning, I started experiencing incredibly sick as the bus swayed around every turn. I kept telling myself to hold on another few kilometres so the bus could reached my destination, and then I could make a mad dash toward the most convenient washroom to throw up.
The bus was approaching the street towards my stop and I realised I would not be to last. In an instant, it was like a fog descended upon me. The world became white and really quiet; like someone had muted everything. I thought, “I will lose consciousness”.
Thankfully, I was positioned near the front on the bus, so I managed a couple of steps forward and told the operator to open the doors, informing him I needed to get ill. The driver opened the bus doors and I hurriedly stepped onto the sidewalk.
I was resolved to avoid being sick in front of six lanes of traffic, so I picked myself up and began attempting to make my way across to the park across the road, thinking I could I could at least find some privacy behind a bush to throw up. But then I must have fainted. I was aware of my physical self, yet I was unable to walk or see clearly, so I began inching my way to the park.
“Are you okay, dear?”
At that moment, someone picked me up. I sensed a strong arm supporting me and a man’s voice asked, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I had to to be sick. Thus, he practically carried me into a nearby building and put me inside the women’s restroom. He inquired if I needed him to wait for me but I refused.
A few minutes later, I had recovered sufficiently to sit on the restroom floor when from beyond the stall I heard him ask, “Do you need anything, love? Do you need anything?” I wasn’t able to stand up right away but did manage to express my gratitude and after a few more minutes regained the function of my feet. I returned home and then spent several days getting over what turned out to be a severe stomach virus.
I never saw the stranger’s face – just his lower half and the big metal toolbox he held – yet he rescued me, when I was at my most vulnerable.
Many times, life can make you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His act was the type of kindness that undoes that emotional callousness. He served as evidence that our default setting is to be kind, a trait I cherish about humanity.
