In Such Poor Health Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Practically Supported Me to a Bathroom.

During my nineteenth year, my regular journey to work meant taking an packed public transport. The vehicle was always crowded and would always be without any seats when I boarded.

On one specific day, I began feeling terribly ill while the vehicle lurched around each corner. I repeatedly told myself to persevere for a few more stops before the bus got to my destination, at which point I could sprint quickly for the nearest washroom to be sick.

As we neared the road leading to the destination as I realised I was unable to hold on. In an instant, it felt as if a veil came over me. Everything just went hazy and muffled; like someone had cut the sound. I thought, “I’m going to faint”.

Luckily I was near the front inside the vehicle, so I took a couple of steps toward the driver and requested that the driver to pull over, telling him I needed to be sick. He promptly opened the bus doors and I stumbled out on to the pavement.

I was determined to avoid being sick in view of six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and began attempting to stumble to the park on the other side, thinking I could I’d at least be able to find some privacy among some shrubs to throw up. Yet I likely lost consciousness. I could feel my limbs, but I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, so I began dragging myself toward the grassy area.

“You right, love?”

Right then, someone picked me up. I felt someone holding me and heard a man say, “Everything alright, love?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I needed to be sick. Therefore, he almost helped me walk down into a close-by structure and placed me into the female bathroom. He asked me whether I required him to wait for me but I said no.

After a short while, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit down when from beyond the door came his voice asking, “Do you need anything, love? Is there anything you require?” I could not to get up at that moment but I did succeed to thank him and after a few more minutes was able to move my feet. I got myself home and then spent several days healing from what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.

I never saw that man’s face – just his lower half along with a sizable metal toolbox he had with him – but he saved me, when I was completely helpless.

Frequently, society can make you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His was the sort of gesture that undoes that hardening of the heart. He was proof that humanity’s innate tendency is towards kindness, something I love about humanity.