In Such Poor Health I Couldn’t Walk As a Stranger Virtually Carried Me to the Toilets.
Back when I was 19 years old, my morning travel was on an packed public transport. It was perpetually jammed and would always be standing room only once I got on.
On one specific day, I began feeling incredibly sick while the vehicle lurched around each corner. I repeatedly told myself to persevere for a few more stops so the bus could arrived at where I needed to get off, so I could then rush hurriedly toward the most convenient washroom to throw up.
The bus was approaching the avenue close to the destination as I realised I wasn’t going to last. All of a sudden, it seemed a curtain fell over me. The world became blank and silent; like someone had cut the sound. My mind raced, “I’m going to faint”.
Thankfully, I was positioned near the front on the bus, so I managed several steps to ask the driver and told the operator to open the doors, telling him I was going to vomit. He promptly opened the entrance and I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.
I was determined not to vomit in view of a busy multi-lane road, so I picked myself up and started trying to walk to the park across the road, where I thought I’d at least be able to discreetly hide near some foliage to vomit. However I likely fainted. I was aware of my limbs, but I was unable to walk and my vision was blurry, so I started crawling towards my intended destination.
“Are you okay, dear?”
In that instant, someone picked me up. I sensed someone holding me and a stranger inquired, “Everything alright, love?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I needed to vomit. Thus, he practically helped me walk over to a close-by structure and guided me into the female bathroom. He asked me if I needed him to stay with me but I said no.
A few minutes later, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit on the toilet when from beyond the door I heard him inquire, “Do you need anything, love? Is there anything you require?” I was incapable to rise just then but I was able to express my gratitude and after a few more minutes regained the function of my limbs. I made my way home and spent the following days recovering from what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.
I never glimpsed his features – merely his legs along with a sizable container for tools he had with him – but he saved me, at a moment I was in my weakest state.
Often this world can make you guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that undoes that hardening of the heart. He was proof that people’s natural inclination leans toward compassion, a quality I adore in other people.
