In Such Poor Health I Was Unable to Walk As a Stranger Virtually Carried Me to a Bathroom.

At the age of my late teens, my daily commute meant taking an express bus. It was perpetually full and was consistently standing room only when I got on.

One particular morning, I started experiencing terribly ill when the coach lurched around every turn. I kept telling myself to hold on for a few more stops so the bus could got to my destination, at which point I could rush hurriedly for the nearest public restroom to be sick.

We were coming down the avenue close to the destination as it dawned on me I wasn’t going to make it. Suddenly, it felt as if a fog descended upon me. Everything just went hazy and muffled; like someone had turned off the audio. I said to myself, “I am about to pass out”.

Thankfully, I was positioned toward the front on the bus, so I managed several steps forward and requested that the driver to pull over, explaining to him I was going to be sick. He opened the entrance and I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.

I was resolved to not get sick before six lanes of traffic, so I forced myself up and began attempting to stumble toward the green space across the road, thinking I could it would allow me to find some privacy behind a bush to be sick. But then I apparently blacked out. I sensed my physical self, yet I couldn’t walk or see clearly, so I began crawling towards the grassy area.

“Everything alright, love?”

At that moment, someone picked me up. There was a strong arm supporting me and heard a man say, “Are you okay, dear?” I managed to tell the mysterious stranger that I required to vomit. So he virtually carried me over to a close-by structure and put me in the ladies’ toilets. He wanted to know if I wanted him to remain with me but I said no.

After a short while, I had recovered sufficiently to sit on the restroom floor and from outside the door came him inquire, “Are you feeling better, dear? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to rise at that moment but did manage to say thank you and after a few more minutes was able to move my limbs. I got myself home and then spent the following days recovering from what turned out to be a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I never glimpsed his features – only his legs and a large container for tools he held – yet he rescued me, when I was at my most vulnerable.

Many times, life tends to make people defensive, aggressive and competitive. His act was the type of kindness that melts away that hardening of the heart. He was proof that people’s natural inclination is towards kindness, a quality I adore about humanity.