In Such Poor Health I Couldn’t Walk Until a Fellow Passenger Practically Supported Me to a Restroom.

At the age of 19 years old, my regular journey to work involved an express bus. It was perpetually crowded and was consistently completely full by the time I got on.

During a certain commute, I was feeling quite nauseous when the coach lurched around every turn. I continuously reassured myself to endure for a few more stops before the bus reached my destination, and then I could rush hurriedly to the closest public restroom to throw up.

The bus was approaching the street towards the stop when I realised I would not be to last. All of a sudden, it felt as if a fog descended upon me. My vision turned hazy and muffled; as if someone muted everything. I thought, “I am about to pass out”.

Luckily I was near the front of the bus, so I managed several steps forward and asked the driver to stop, explaining to him I needed to get ill. The driver opened the doors and I hurriedly stepped onto the sidewalk.

I was resolved not to vomit before six lanes of traffic, so I forced myself up and started trying to make my way to the park across the road, thinking I could I could at least discreetly hide among some shrubs to be sick. Yet I apparently lost consciousness. I could feel my physical self, yet I was unable to walk and my vision was blurry, leading me to start inching my way to the park.

“Everything alright, love?”

At that moment, someone picked me up. I felt someone holding me and heard a man say, “Everything alright, love?” I managed to tell the mysterious stranger that I needed to vomit. Thus, he practically helped me walk down into a nearby building and put me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me if I wanted him to remain with me but I refused.

A few minutes later, I had recovered sufficiently to sit down and from outside the door I heard him ask, “Do you need anything, love? Is there anything you require?” I could not to rise at that moment but I was able to thank him and after a few more minutes recovered the use of my legs. I made my way home passing the next few days recovering from what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.

I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – merely his legs and a large container for tools he was carrying – but he helped me, at a moment I was in my weakest state.

Frequently, society has a way of making you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. What he did was the kind of action that undoes that emotional callousness. He demonstrated that humanity’s innate tendency leans toward compassion, a quality I adore about my fellow humans.