Feeling So Sick I Was Unable to Walk As a Stranger Essentially Lifted Me to a Restroom.

During my my late teens, my daily commute meant taking an crowded coach. It remained full and was consistently standing room only when I stepped aboard.

On one specific day, I was feeling terribly ill when the coach rocked around every turn. I repeatedly told myself to endure another few kilometres before the bus reached my destination, so I could then sprint quickly to the closest washroom to vomit.

We were coming down the avenue close to my stop and I realised I was unable to hold on. In an instant, it seemed a fog descended upon me. My vision turned white and really quiet; as if someone turned off the audio. I thought, “I will lose consciousness”.

Luckily I was close to the driver on the bus, allowing me to take a couple of steps toward the driver and asked the driver to stop, explaining to him I was going to be sick. The driver opened the doors and I weakly exited on to the pavement.

My intention was not to vomit in view of six lanes of traffic, so I picked myself up and endeavored to walk across to the park across the road, where I believed I’d at least be able to discreetly hide among some shrubs to throw up. However I likely lost consciousness. I was aware of my limbs, but I was unable to walk and my vision was blurry, so I started dragging myself toward the park.

“You right, love?”

In that instant, I was lifted up. There was an arm around my waist and heard a man say, “Everything alright, love?” I told this unknown man that I needed to vomit. Thus, he practically carried me over to an adjacent building and put me inside the women’s restroom. He wanted to know whether I required him to remain with me but I declined.

A few minutes later, I had recovered enough to sit down and from outside the door came his voice asking, “Do you need anything, love? Do you need anything?” I could not to rise at that moment but did manage to thank him and after a few more minutes regained the function of my limbs. I made my way home and spent several days healing from which was a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I never saw the stranger’s face – merely his legs along with a sizable metal toolbox he held – but he helped me, at a moment I was completely helpless.

Many times, life can make you guarded, hostile, and combative. His act was the type of kindness that undoes that protective shell. He served as evidence that our default setting is to be kind, a quality I adore about my fellow humans.