In Such Poor Health I Couldn’t Walk When a Man Virtually Carried Me to a Restroom.

At the age of my late teens, my morning travel was on an packed public transport. It remained crowded and would always be completely full by the time I boarded.

One particular morning, I was feeling quite nauseous as the bus swayed around every turn. I kept telling myself to hold on just a little longer so the bus could reached where I needed to get off, and then I could rush hurriedly toward the most convenient public toilet to throw up.

As we neared the street towards the destination as I realised I wasn’t going to last. All of a sudden, it seemed a curtain fell over me. The world became blank and silent; like someone had muted everything. I said to myself, “I will lose consciousness”.

Fortunately, I stood close to the driver on the bus, so I managed a few steps forward and requested that the driver to pull over, explaining to him that I was about to get ill. The driver opened the entrance and I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.

I was resolved not to vomit in view of multiple lanes of cars, so I forced myself up and started trying to walk to the park across the road, where I thought it would allow me to secretly conceal myself behind a bush to be sick. However I must have blacked out. I was aware of my physical self, yet I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, so I started crawling towards the park.

“You right, love?”

At that moment, I got scooped up. There was an arm around my waist and heard a man say, “Are you okay, dear?” I told this unknown man that I required to be sick. Therefore, he almost supported my weight into a close-by structure and put me inside the women’s restroom. He wanted to know if I wanted him to stay with me but I declined.

A few minutes later, I regained my composure enough to sit on the restroom floor when from beyond the door I heard him ask, “Are you OK, love? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to rise right away but did manage to express my gratitude and following a brief period regained the function of my limbs. I got myself home passing the following days healing from which was a severe stomach virus.

I did not see the stranger’s face – only his legs and the big steelwork tools container he had with him – yet he rescued me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.

Often this world has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. His was the sort of gesture that undoes that emotional callousness. He demonstrated that people’s natural inclination leans toward compassion, something I love about humanity.