I Was So Ill I Couldn’t Walk As a Stranger Essentially Lifted Me to the Toilets.

At the age of nineteenth year, my daily commute was on an packed public transport. It was perpetually crowded and would always be without any seats once I stepped aboard.

During a certain commute, I began feeling incredibly sick as the bus swayed around the bends. I continuously reassured myself to endure another few kilometres so the bus could reached my stop, and then I could make a mad dash for the nearest public toilet to throw up.

As we neared the road leading to my stop and I realised I was unable to make it. Suddenly, it was like a fog descended upon me. Everything just went white and really quiet; like someone had turned off the audio. My mind raced, “I will lose consciousness”.

Luckily I was toward the front of the bus, allowing me to take a few steps to ask the driver and told the operator to open the doors, telling him I was going to get ill. He promptly opened the doors and I weakly exited onto the sidewalk.

I was determined to not get sick in view of multiple lanes of cars, so I gathered myself and began attempting to stumble across to the park opposite the street, thinking I could it would allow me to discreetly hide behind a bush to vomit. However I must have fainted. I was aware of my limbs, but I couldn’t walk or see properly, leading me to start crawling towards the grassy area.

“Are you okay, dear?”

In that instant, I got scooped up. There was a strong arm supporting me and heard a man say, “Everything alright, love?” I managed to tell the unknown man that I needed to get to a bathroom. So he virtually carried me over to an adjacent building and placed me into the female bathroom. He asked me if I needed him to remain with me but I refused.

Not long after, I regained my composure enough to sit down when from beyond the stall I heard his voice asking, “Do you need anything, love? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to stand up at that moment but did manage to express my gratitude and after a few more minutes recovered the use of my feet. I returned home and then spent the following days getting over what was later diagnosed as a nasty tummy bug.

I never saw that man’s face – just his lower half and a large steelwork tools container he was carrying – but he helped me, during a time when I was in my weakest state.

Often this world tends to make people guarded, hostile, and combative. His act was the type of kindness that reverses that protective shell. He served as evidence that humanity’s innate tendency is to be kind, a quality I adore about my fellow humans.