I Was So Ill Walking Was Impossible As a Stranger Essentially Lifted Me to a Bathroom.

Back when I was my late teens, my daily commute involved an crowded coach. The vehicle was always jammed and invariably became completely full by the time I stepped aboard.

One particular morning, I was feeling terribly ill when the coach swayed around the bends. I continuously reassured myself to hold on for a few more stops until the bus reached my destination, at which point I could rush hurriedly toward the most convenient public restroom to be sick.

As we neared the street towards my stop and it dawned on me I wasn’t going to hold on. All of a sudden, it felt as if a curtain fell over me. The world became hazy and muffled; as if someone cut the sound. I thought, “I will lose consciousness”.

Luckily I was toward the front on the bus, allowing me to take several steps to ask the driver and asked the driver to pull over, informing him I was going to get ill. He promptly opened the entrance and I stumbled out on to the pavement.

I was resolved not to vomit before a busy multi-lane road, so I gathered myself and endeavored to walk to the park on the other side, where I thought it would allow me to find some privacy behind a bush to throw up. However I apparently blacked out. I was aware of my limbs, but walking was impossible or see clearly, leading me to start dragging myself toward the park.

“Are you okay, dear?”

At that moment, someone picked me up. I felt an arm around my waist and a man’s voice asked, “Everything alright, love?” I explained to this unknown man that I required to be sick. Therefore, he almost carried me over to a nearby building and placed me in the ladies’ toilets. He inquired if I wanted him to wait for me but I declined.

After a short while, I regained my composure to the point of sitting on the restroom floor and from the other side of the door came him inquire, “Are you OK, love? Is there anything you require?” I could not to get up right away but I did succeed to say thank you and following a brief period recovered the use of my limbs. I made my way home and then spent the next few days getting over what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.

I never glimpsed that man’s face – merely his legs and a large steelwork tools container he had with him – but he saved me, when I was at my most vulnerable.

Often this world has a way of making you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His was the sort of gesture that undoes that emotional callousness. He was proof that people’s natural inclination is towards kindness, something I love in other people.