Feeling So Sick I Was Unable to Walk As a Stranger Practically Supported Me to a Restroom.
During my my late teens, my regular journey to work involved an packed public transport. The vehicle was always crowded and would always be standing room only by the time I stepped aboard.
On one specific day, I began feeling incredibly sick while the vehicle lurched around every turn. I continuously reassured myself to endure just a little longer until the bus reached my destination, at which point I could make a mad dash for the nearest washroom to be sick.
We were coming down the avenue close to the stop when I understood I was unable to last. In an instant, it was like a fog descended upon me. My vision turned white and really quiet; like someone had muted everything. I thought, “I am about to pass out”.
Fortunately, I stood toward the front on the bus, so I took several steps forward and told the operator to open the doors, explaining to him that I was about to be sick. He opened the entrance and I hurriedly stepped on to the pavement.
I was resolved not to vomit in view of a busy multi-lane road, so I picked myself up and endeavored to stumble toward the green space across the road, where I believed I could at least discreetly hide near some foliage to be sick. Yet I must have fainted. I was aware of my physical self, yet I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, so I began inching my way to the park.
“Everything alright, love?”
Right then, someone picked me up. There was a strong arm supporting me and heard a man say, “Are you okay, dear?” I told this kind passerby that I needed to be sick. So he virtually supported my weight into an adjacent building and put me in the ladies’ toilets. He inquired if I needed him to remain with me but I refused.
Not long after, I felt better to the point of sitting on the toilet and from outside the door came him ask, “Are you OK, love? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to get up at that moment but I was able to thank him and shortly thereafter regained the function of my limbs. I returned home and then spent several days recovering from what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.
I never glimpsed that man’s face – only his legs and a large metal toolbox he held – yet he rescued me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.
Frequently, society tends to make people self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. What he did was the kind of action that melts away that hardening of the heart. He served as evidence that our default setting is to be kind, a trait I cherish about my fellow humans.
