In Such Poor Health I Was Unable to Walk When a Man Essentially Lifted Me to a Restroom.
During my my late teens, my morning travel was on an express bus. The vehicle was always full and would always be standing room only when I boarded.
One particular morning, I began feeling quite nauseous as the bus lurched around the bends. I kept telling myself to hold on just a little longer until the bus arrived at my destination, so I could then sprint quickly for the nearest washroom to vomit.
We were coming down the street towards the destination as I understood I wasn’t going to make it. Suddenly, it was like a veil came over me. The world became white and really quiet; as if someone cut the sound. I thought, “I’m going to faint”.
Luckily I was toward the front inside the vehicle, so I took a couple of steps to ask the driver and asked the driver to stop, telling him I was going to get ill. The driver opened the bus doors and I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.
I was resolved to avoid being sick before multiple lanes of cars, so I forced myself up and began attempting to stumble toward the green space opposite the street, where I believed I could at least discreetly hide among some shrubs to vomit. However I must have blacked out. I was aware of my limbs, but I couldn’t walk or see properly, so I started inching my way to the grassy area.
“Are you okay, dear?”
Right then, I got scooped up. I felt an arm around my waist and a man’s voice asked, “Everything alright, love?” I managed to tell the mysterious stranger that I had to to get to a bathroom. So he virtually carried me into an adjacent building and placed me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me if I wanted him to wait for me but I said no.
Not long after, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit on the toilet and from the other side of the door came his voice asking, “Do you need anything, love? Do you need anything?” I wasn’t able to stand up right away but I was able to express my gratitude and shortly thereafter recovered the use of my feet. I made my way home and then spent the next few days getting over what turned out to be a nasty tummy bug.
I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – only his legs along with a sizable metal toolbox he held – but he helped me, when I was in my weakest state.
Frequently, society can make you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. What he did was the kind of action that reverses that protective shell. He demonstrated that humanity’s innate tendency is towards kindness, a trait I cherish about humanity.
