Feeling So Sick Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Virtually Carried Me to a Restroom.

At the age of 19 years old, my regular journey to work meant taking an crowded coach. It was perpetually crowded and invariably became standing room only once I got on.

On one specific day, I was feeling quite nauseous while the vehicle lurched around each corner. I continuously reassured myself to persevere for a few more stops until the bus got to where I needed to get off, at which point I could sprint quickly to the closest public restroom to throw up.

We were coming down the road leading to my stop and it dawned on me I wasn’t going to last. All of a sudden, it seemed a curtain fell over me. Everything just went white and really quiet; like someone had cut the sound. My mind raced, “I will lose consciousness”.

Luckily I was near the front on the bus, so I managed several steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to stop, informing him I needed to vomit. He opened the bus doors and I hurriedly stepped on to the pavement.

I was determined to not get sick before six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and began attempting to walk across to the park on the other side, where I thought I’d at least be able to find some privacy near some foliage to throw up. But then I likely blacked out. I sensed my body but walking was impossible and my vision was blurry, so I started dragging myself toward my intended destination.

“Everything alright, love?”

Right then, someone picked me up. I sensed a strong arm supporting me and heard a man say, “Are you okay, dear?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I required to get to a bathroom. So he virtually carried me 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.

Not long after, I had recovered enough to sit on the restroom floor when from beyond the door I heard his voice asking, “Are you OK, love? Do you need anything?” I was incapable to get up just then but did manage to say thank you and following a brief period regained the function of my feet. I made my way home and spent several days getting over what was later diagnosed as a nasty tummy bug.

I never glimpsed that man’s face – just his lower half along with a sizable container for tools he was carrying – but he saved me, during a time when I was in my weakest state.

Frequently, society tends to make people self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His was the sort of gesture that melts away that emotional callousness. He was proof that our default setting is towards kindness, a quality I adore about humanity.