In Such Poor Health I Couldn’t Walk When a Man Essentially Lifted Me to a Bathroom.

At the age of my late teens, my regular journey to work meant taking an express bus. It was perpetually jammed and would always be standing room only when I got on.

One particular morning, I started experiencing terribly ill when the coach rocked around every turn. I kept telling myself to persevere another few kilometres until the bus reached where I needed to get off, and then I could make a mad dash for the nearest washroom to be sick.

As we neared the road leading to the stop when I understood I wasn’t going to hold on. In an instant, it seemed a veil came over me. The world became blank and silent; like someone had muted everything. I said to myself, “I’m going to faint”.

Thankfully, I was positioned toward the front inside the vehicle, so I took a couple of steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to open the doors, explaining to him I was going to get ill. He opened the doors and I stumbled out on to the pavement.

I was determined to not get sick in view of six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and began attempting to stumble to the park opposite the street, where I believed I could at least find some privacy behind a bush to throw up. Yet I likely blacked out. I could feel my physical self, yet walking was impossible or see clearly, so I began crawling towards the grassy area.

“Are you okay, dear?”

In that instant, I was lifted up. I felt someone holding me and a man’s voice asked, “Are you okay, dear?” I explained to this mysterious stranger that I needed to get to a bathroom. Thus, he practically helped me walk down into a close-by structure and put me inside the women’s restroom. He inquired if I needed him to stay with me but I said no.

After a short while, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit on the restroom floor and from the other side of the stall I heard his voice asking, “Are you OK, love? Is there anything you require?” I wasn’t able to stand up at that moment but did manage to express my gratitude and shortly thereafter regained the function of my limbs. I made my way home and spent the following days recovering from what was later diagnosed as a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I did not see his features – just his lower half and the big steelwork tools container he was carrying – but he saved me, when I was in my weakest state.

Often this world has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. His act was the type of kindness that undoes that protective shell. He served as evidence that our default setting is towards kindness, something I love in other people.