In Such Poor Health Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Essentially Lifted Me to a Bathroom.

Back when I was my late teens, my morning travel involved an crowded coach. It remained jammed and would always be standing room only when I got on.

During a certain commute, I started experiencing terribly ill as the bus lurched around each corner. I repeatedly told myself to persevere another few kilometres until the bus reached where I needed to get off, and then I could sprint quickly to the closest public toilet to throw up.

As we neared the avenue close to my stop and it dawned on me I was unable to hold on. In an instant, it was like a veil came over me. The world became hazy and muffled; similar to when one muted everything. My mind raced, “I will lose consciousness”.

Luckily I was close to the driver inside the vehicle, so I took a couple of steps forward and asked the driver to pull over, telling him that I was about to get ill. He opened the entrance and I hurriedly stepped on to the pavement.

My intention was not to vomit in view of multiple lanes of cars, so I gathered myself and endeavored to stumble across to the park on the other side, where I thought it would allow me to secretly conceal myself behind a bush to throw up. Yet I must have fainted. I sensed my physical self, yet I couldn’t walk or see clearly, so I started crawling towards the park.

“Are you okay, dear?”

At that moment, someone picked me up. There was an arm around my waist and a man’s voice asked, “Are you okay, dear?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I required to be sick. Thus, he practically carried me down into an adjacent building and guided me into the female bathroom. He asked me if I wanted him to remain with me but I refused.

Not long after, I felt better enough to sit down and from outside the door I heard him inquire, “Are you OK, love? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to get up just then but did manage to say thank you and following a brief period was able to move my feet. I returned home and spent the next few days recovering from which was a nasty tummy bug.

I never glimpsed his features – merely his legs and a large metal toolbox he held – but he saved me, during a time when I was in my weakest state.

Frequently, society can make you defensive, aggressive and competitive. His was the sort of gesture that reverses that protective shell. He served as evidence that people’s natural inclination is to be kind, a quality I adore about my fellow humans.