In Such Poor Health Walking Was Impossible When a Man Practically Supported Me to the Toilets.

Back when I was my late teens, my regular journey to work meant taking an express bus. It remained full and would always be standing room only when I boarded.

One particular morning, I began feeling terribly ill as the bus lurched around the bends. I kept telling myself to hold on another few kilometres so the bus could got to where I needed to get off, and then I could rush hurriedly toward the most convenient public restroom to be sick.

We were coming down the avenue close to the destination as I realised I was unable to make it. In an instant, it seemed a veil came over me. Everything just went hazy and muffled; like someone had muted everything. My mind raced, “I will lose consciousness”.

Thankfully, I was positioned close to the driver on the bus, so I took a few steps forward and told the operator to open the doors, telling him I was going to be sick. He opened the bus doors and I weakly exited out onto the street.

I was determined to avoid being sick in view of six lanes of traffic, so I forced myself up and began attempting to stumble to the park opposite the street, where I believed I’d at least be able to find some privacy among some shrubs to vomit. Yet I apparently blacked out. I could feel my physical self, yet walking was impossible or see clearly, so I started inching my way to the grassy area.

“Are you okay, dear?”

At that moment, someone picked me up. I sensed an arm around my waist and heard a man say, “Are you okay, dear?” I managed to tell the mysterious stranger that I needed to vomit. Thus, he practically carried me over to an adjacent building and placed me inside the women’s restroom. He inquired if I wanted him to stay with me but I said no.

A few minutes later, I felt better to the point of sitting on the toilet and from outside the stall I heard him ask, “Are you OK, love? Is there anything you require?” I wasn’t able to rise just then but did manage to thank him and shortly thereafter recovered the use of my feet. I got myself home and then spent the next few days getting over what was later diagnosed as a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I never saw his features – just his lower half and a large metal toolbox he held – but he helped me, at a moment I was completely helpless.

Frequently, society tends to make people guarded, hostile, and combative. His was the sort of gesture that undoes that protective shell. He served as evidence that people’s natural inclination is towards kindness, a quality I adore in other people.