I Was So Ill I Was Unable to Walk Until a Fellow Passenger Practically Supported Me to a Bathroom.
Back when I was my late teens, my morning travel was on an packed public transport. The vehicle was always full and was consistently without any seats when I stepped aboard.
On one specific day, I began feeling quite nauseous as the bus lurched around every turn. I repeatedly told myself to endure just a little longer so the bus could got to my stop, at which point I could rush hurriedly toward the most convenient public toilet to throw up.
As we neared the street towards the stop when I understood I would not be to hold on. All of a sudden, it felt as if a curtain fell over me. My vision turned hazy and muffled; similar to when one turned off the audio. I thought, “I am about to pass out”.
Luckily I was near the front on the bus, allowing me to take a couple of steps toward the driver and asked the driver to stop, explaining to him I needed to vomit. He opened the doors and I weakly exited onto the sidewalk.
I was resolved to avoid being sick before multiple lanes of cars, so I gathered myself and started trying to make my way toward the green space on the other side, where I thought I could at least discreetly hide behind a bush to be sick. Yet I apparently fainted. I was aware of my limbs, but I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, leading me to start inching my way to my intended destination.
“Everything alright, love?”
Right then, I got scooped up. There was an arm around my waist and heard a man say, “Are you okay, dear?” I told this kind passerby that I had to to be sick. Thus, he practically carried me down into a close-by structure and guided me inside the women’s restroom. He asked me if I wanted him to stay with me but I refused.
Not long after, I felt better sufficiently to sit on the toilet and from outside the door came him inquire, “Are you feeling better, dear? Can I get you something?” I wasn’t able to stand up right away but did manage to say thank you and shortly thereafter regained the function of my feet. I got myself home and spent the next few days getting over what turned out to be a horrible case of gastroenteritis.
I did not see the stranger’s face – only his legs and the big metal toolbox he had with him – yet he rescued me, at a moment I was in my weakest state.
Many times, life tends to make people self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. What he did was the kind of action that reverses that protective shell. He served as evidence that people’s natural inclination leans toward compassion, something I love about my fellow humans.
