Feeling So Sick Walking Was Impossible When a Man Virtually Carried Me to the Toilets.

At the age of my late teens, my regular journey to work meant taking an packed public transport. The vehicle was always full and would always be without any seats when I stepped aboard.

During a certain commute, I was feeling incredibly sick as the bus lurched around the bends. I kept telling myself to endure for a few more stops until the bus reached my destination, so I could then sprint quickly toward the most convenient washroom to throw up.

As we neared the avenue close to the destination as it dawned on me I was unable to hold on. Suddenly, it was like a veil came over me. The world became blank and silent; as if someone cut the sound. I said to myself, “I will lose consciousness”.

Thankfully, I was positioned toward the front inside the vehicle, so I managed several steps to ask the driver and asked the driver to stop, explaining to him that I was about to get ill. He promptly opened the entrance and I weakly exited onto the sidewalk.

My intention was to not get sick in view of multiple lanes of cars, so I picked myself up and began attempting to make my way to the park on the other side, where I thought it would allow me to find some privacy among some shrubs to throw up. But then I apparently blacked out. I sensed my body but walking was impossible or see properly, so I began dragging myself toward my intended destination.

“You right, love?”

At that moment, I was lifted up. I felt an arm around my waist and a man’s voice asked, “You right, love?” I explained to this kind passerby that I required to vomit. Therefore, he almost supported my weight into a nearby building and placed me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me if I needed him to wait for me but I refused.

Not long after, I regained my composure enough to sit on the toilet and from outside the stall I heard him inquire, “Do you need anything, love? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to rise just then but did manage to say thank you and shortly thereafter was able to move my limbs. I got myself home and spent the next few days getting over which was a severe stomach virus.

I never saw his features – just his lower half and a large steelwork tools container he was carrying – but he saved me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.

Frequently, society has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. His was the sort of gesture that melts away that emotional callousness. He was proof that our default setting is towards kindness, a quality I adore about humanity.