I Was So Ill I Was Unable to Walk When a Man Virtually Carried Me to the Toilets.

Back when I was 19 years old, my regular journey to work meant taking an crowded coach. The vehicle was always crowded and was consistently without any seats once I got on.

On one specific day, I began feeling terribly ill while the vehicle swayed around each corner. I continuously reassured myself to persevere for a few more stops before the bus reached my stop, so I could then make a mad dash to the closest washroom to be sick.

As we neared the street towards the destination as it dawned on me I would not be to hold on. All of a sudden, it seemed a veil came over me. My vision turned white and really quiet; like someone had muted everything. I said to myself, “I will lose consciousness”.

Luckily I was near the front of the bus, allowing me to take a couple of steps toward the driver and requested that the driver to pull over, telling him I was going to be sick. He promptly opened the entrance and I weakly exited out onto the street.

I was resolved not to vomit in front of multiple lanes of cars, so I picked myself up and began attempting to make my way toward the green space across the road, where I thought it would allow me to secretly conceal myself among some shrubs to vomit. However I must have fainted. I could feel my limbs, but walking was impossible or see properly, so I began inching my way to the grassy area.

“Are you okay, dear?”

In that instant, I got scooped up. I felt an arm around my waist and a man’s voice asked, “Are you okay, dear?” I explained to this unknown man that I had to to be sick. So he virtually supported my weight over to a nearby building and put me inside the women’s restroom. He wanted to know whether I required him to stay with me but I declined.

After a short while, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit on the restroom floor and from outside the stall I heard his voice asking, “Do you need anything, love? Can I get you something?” I wasn’t able to get up 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 the next few days recovering from what turned out to be a severe stomach virus.

I did not see his features – only his legs and the big metal toolbox he held – but he saved me, at a moment I was at my most vulnerable.

Frequently, society has a way of making you defensive, aggressive and competitive. What he did was the kind of action that reverses that hardening of the heart. He demonstrated that humanity’s innate tendency leans toward compassion, something I love in other people.