Feeling So Sick Walking Was Impossible As a Stranger Practically Supported Me to a Restroom.

During my my late teens, my morning travel meant taking an packed public transport. It was perpetually crowded and would always be standing room only by the time I boarded.

During a certain commute, I started experiencing quite nauseous when the coach swayed around every turn. I kept telling myself to persevere another few kilometres until the bus got to my stop, at which point I could sprint quickly to the closest washroom to vomit.

As we neared the street towards the stop when it dawned on me I would not be to last. Suddenly, it felt as if a curtain fell over me. My vision turned white and really quiet; similar to when one muted everything. I said to myself, “I’m going to faint”.

Luckily I was near the front of the bus, allowing me to take a couple of 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.

I was determined to not get sick before a busy multi-lane road, so I forced myself up and started trying to make my way across to the park on the other side, where I thought it would allow me to secretly conceal myself among some shrubs to throw up. Yet I apparently fainted. I was aware of my limbs, but walking was impossible or see clearly, so I began inching my way to my intended destination.

“Are you okay, dear?”

At that moment, I was lifted up. I sensed someone holding me and heard a man say, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the mysterious stranger that I had to to be sick. Therefore, he almost carried me over to a nearby building and placed me inside the women’s restroom. He wanted to know if I needed him to stay with me but I declined.

Not long after, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit down when from beyond the stall I heard him inquire, “Are you OK, love? Do you need anything?” I wasn’t able to rise right away but I was able to thank him and following a brief period regained the function of my feet. I returned home and then spent several days healing from what turned out to be a severe stomach virus.

I never glimpsed that man’s face – just his lower half and a large container for tools he was carrying – yet he rescued me, at a moment I was completely helpless.

Often this world tends to make people self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His act was the type of kindness that undoes that protective shell. He demonstrated that our default setting leans toward compassion, something I love about my fellow humans.