I Was So Ill I Couldn’t Walk As a Stranger Practically Supported Me to a Restroom.

Back when I was my late teens, my daily commute involved an express bus. It remained full and was consistently standing room only by the time I boarded.

One particular morning, I started experiencing incredibly sick when the coach swayed around the bends. I kept telling myself to hold on for a few more stops until the bus arrived at my destination, and then I could make a mad dash to the closest public restroom to throw up.

We were coming down the street towards the stop when I realised I wasn’t going to last. All of a sudden, it was like a veil came over me. The world became hazy and muffled; similar to when one turned off the audio. I said to myself, “I’m going to faint”.

Thankfully, I was positioned toward the front of the bus, so I managed a few steps to ask the driver and told the operator to pull over, explaining to him I was going to vomit. He opened the bus doors and I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.

My intention was to not get sick before six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and began attempting to walk toward the green space on the other side, thinking I could I’d at least be able to find some privacy among some shrubs to vomit. Yet I likely lost consciousness. I sensed my limbs, but I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, so I started dragging myself toward my intended destination.

“You right, love?”

At that moment, someone picked me up. I sensed someone holding me and a stranger inquired, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the unknown man that I had to to get to a bathroom. Thus, he practically supported my weight down into a nearby building and put me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me if I needed him to remain with me but I refused.

Not long after, I felt better to the point of sitting on the restroom floor when from beyond the stall I heard his voice asking, “Do you need anything, love? Can I get you something?” I could not to stand up right away but I was able to thank him and after a few more minutes regained the function of my limbs. I returned home and spent the following days getting over what turned out to be a nasty tummy bug.

I never saw that man’s face – only his legs and a large steelwork tools container he held – yet he rescued me, 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 melts away that protective shell. He demonstrated that humanity’s innate tendency leans toward compassion, something I love in other people.