Feeling So Sick I Couldn’t Walk As a Stranger Essentially Lifted Me to the Toilets.
Back when I was my late teens, my morning travel involved an crowded coach. The vehicle was always jammed and invariably became completely full once I got on.
During a certain commute, I started experiencing terribly ill when the coach swayed around each corner. I continuously reassured myself to hold on another few kilometres until the bus got to my destination, and then I could sprint quickly for the nearest public restroom to vomit.
The bus was approaching the road leading to my stop and it dawned on me I was unable to make it. In an instant, it seemed a fog descended upon me. Everything just went white and really quiet; like someone had turned off the audio. I thought, “I will lose consciousness”.
Thankfully, I was positioned toward the front inside the vehicle, allowing me to take a couple of steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to pull over, telling him I was going to vomit. He promptly opened the doors and I weakly exited out onto the street.
My intention was to avoid being sick in view of multiple lanes of cars, so I picked myself up and started trying to make my way toward the green space across the road, thinking I could it would allow me to secretly conceal myself behind a bush to throw up. But then I must have fainted. I could feel my physical self, yet walking was impossible or see properly, so I began crawling towards the park.
“Everything alright, love?”
In that instant, someone picked me up. There was an arm around my waist and a man’s voice asked, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I required to vomit. So he virtually carried me into a close-by structure and put me in the ladies’ toilets. He wanted to know if I needed him to remain with me but I said no.
Not long after, I felt better enough to sit on the toilet when from beyond the door I heard him ask, “Are you OK, love? Do you need anything?” I wasn’t able to rise right away but did manage to say thank you and following a brief period was able to move my feet. I got myself home passing several days getting over what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.
I did not see the stranger’s face – just his lower half and the big steelwork tools container he held – but he saved me, when I was completely helpless.
Many times, life has a way of making you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. What he did was the kind of action that melts away that emotional callousness. He was proof that humanity’s innate tendency leans toward compassion, a trait I cherish about humanity.
