Feeling So Sick I Was Unable to Walk Until a Fellow Passenger Virtually Carried Me to a Restroom.
At the age of 19 years old, my regular journey to work meant taking an express bus. The vehicle was always crowded and was consistently standing room only once I got on.
During a certain commute, I was feeling quite nauseous when the coach lurched around each corner. I kept telling myself to persevere just a little longer before the bus got to where I needed to get off, at which point I could make a mad dash toward the most convenient public restroom to vomit.
As we neared the avenue close to the destination as I realised I would not be to make it. Suddenly, it felt as if a curtain fell over me. The world became hazy and muffled; as if someone cut the sound. I said to myself, “I am about to pass out”.
Fortunately, I stood close to the driver of the bus, so I managed several steps toward the driver and told the operator to pull over, telling him I needed to vomit. He promptly opened the entrance and I weakly exited out onto the street.
I was determined to not get sick before a busy multi-lane road, so I picked myself up and began attempting to stumble toward the green space across the road, where I believed I’d at least be able to find some privacy near some foliage to be sick. However I must have lost consciousness. I sensed my limbs, but I was unable to walk or see properly, so I began dragging myself toward my intended destination.
“Everything alright, love?”
Right then, I got scooped up. I felt a strong arm supporting me and a stranger inquired, “Are you okay, dear?” I explained to this kind passerby that I had to to be sick. So he virtually helped me walk down into an adjacent building and guided me in the ladies’ toilets. He inquired whether I required him to wait for me but I said no.
A few minutes later, I felt better sufficiently to sit on the restroom floor and from the other side of the stall I heard his voice asking, “Are you OK, love? Is there anything you require?” I could not to stand up just then but I was able to say thank you and shortly thereafter regained the function of my limbs. I got myself home and spent the following days recovering from which was a horrible case of gastroenteritis.
I never saw the stranger’s face – merely his legs and the big metal toolbox he had with him – yet he rescued me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.
Often this world tends to make people self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His act was the type of kindness that undoes that hardening of the heart. He demonstrated that our default setting is towards kindness, a quality I adore about my fellow humans.
