I Was So Ill I Couldn’t Walk Until a Fellow Passenger Practically Supported Me to a Bathroom.

At the age of my late teens, my morning travel involved an express bus. It was perpetually full and invariably became without any seats by the time I stepped aboard.

On one specific day, I was feeling quite nauseous as the bus swayed around every turn. I repeatedly told myself to hold on another few kilometres until the bus arrived at where I needed to get off, so I could then make a mad dash toward the most convenient public restroom to be sick.

As we neared the road leading to the destination as I realised I was unable to hold on. All of a sudden, it seemed a fog descended upon me. The world became hazy and muffled; as if someone turned off the audio. My mind raced, “I will lose consciousness”.

Thankfully, I was positioned close to the driver on the bus, so I took a few steps toward the driver and asked the driver to stop, explaining to him that I was about to vomit. The driver opened the bus doors and I hurriedly stepped onto the sidewalk.

I was resolved to avoid being sick before six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and endeavored to stumble toward the green space opposite the street, where I thought it would allow me to discreetly hide among some shrubs to vomit. But then I likely lost consciousness. I sensed my limbs, but I was unable to walk or see properly, so I began inching my way to the park.

“Are you okay, dear?”

Right then, I was lifted up. There was someone holding me and a stranger inquired, “Are you okay, dear?” I told this mysterious stranger that I required to vomit. So he virtually carried me down into a nearby building and put me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me if I wanted him to wait for me but I said no.

After a short while, I felt better to the point of sitting down and from the other side of the door came him inquire, “Do you need anything, love? Do you need anything?” I wasn’t able to get up just then but I was able to express my gratitude and following a brief period regained the function of my legs. I got myself home and spent the next few days recovering from which was a severe stomach virus.

I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – just his lower half and a large container for tools he had with him – but he saved me, at a moment I was at my most vulnerable.

Often this world has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. His act was the type of kindness that reverses that emotional callousness. He served as evidence that our default setting is towards kindness, something I love about humanity.