Feeling So Sick Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Essentially Lifted Me to a Restroom.

During my my late teens, my regular journey to work involved an packed public transport. The vehicle was always full and invariably became completely full once I stepped aboard.

During a certain commute, I was feeling quite nauseous when the coach swayed around the bends. I kept telling myself to endure just a little longer until the bus got to where I needed to get off, so I could then sprint quickly for the nearest public toilet to be sick.

As we neared the avenue close to my stop and I understood I wasn’t going to hold on. All of a sudden, it was like a curtain fell over me. Everything just went blank and silent; as if someone cut the sound. My mind raced, “I’m going to faint”.

Thankfully, I was positioned close to the driver on the bus, so I took a few steps forward and told the operator to stop, telling him I needed to get ill. He opened the doors and I stumbled out on to the pavement.

I was determined not to vomit in front of a busy multi-lane road, so I gathered myself and endeavored to walk across to the park across the road, thinking I could I’d at least be able to discreetly hide behind a bush to be sick. Yet I must have fainted. I sensed my limbs, but I couldn’t walk or see clearly, so I started crawling towards my intended destination.

“You right, love?”

In that instant, I was lifted up. I sensed a strong arm supporting me and a stranger inquired, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the unknown man that I needed to vomit. Thus, he practically carried me down into an adjacent building and guided me in the ladies’ toilets. He inquired if I wanted him to wait for me but I refused.

A few minutes later, I regained my composure enough to sit on the toilet when from beyond the door I heard him ask, “Are you OK, love? Do you need anything?” I was incapable to rise just then but I did succeed to thank him and shortly thereafter recovered the use of my feet. I made my way home passing several days recovering from what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.

I never saw his features – merely his legs and the big container for tools he held – but he helped me, during a time when I was completely helpless.

Often this world 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 humanity’s innate tendency leans toward compassion, a quality I adore in other people.