Feeling So Sick Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Practically Supported Me to a Restroom.

At the age of nineteenth year, my regular journey to work meant taking an packed public transport. It remained full and invariably became standing room only when I got on.

On one specific day, I started experiencing quite nauseous as the bus lurched around every turn. I continuously reassured myself to hold on for a few more stops until the bus reached my destination, so I could then rush hurriedly toward the most convenient public restroom to vomit.

We were coming down the street towards the destination as it dawned on me I was unable to last. All of a sudden, it felt as if a curtain fell over me. Everything just went hazy and muffled; like someone had cut the sound. My mind raced, “I am about to pass out”.

Thankfully, I was positioned near the front on the bus, so I managed several steps to ask the driver and asked the driver to stop, explaining to him I needed to vomit. He promptly opened the doors and I weakly exited on to the pavement.

I was determined to avoid being sick in view of six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and started trying to walk to the park opposite the street, thinking I could it would allow me to find some privacy among some shrubs to be sick. Yet I must have fainted. I could feel my body but I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, so I began crawling towards the grassy area.

“Everything alright, love?”

In that instant, I was lifted up. I sensed a strong arm supporting me and heard a man say, “Are you okay, dear?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I required to get to a bathroom. Therefore, he almost supported my weight into a close-by structure and put me in the ladies’ toilets. He wanted to know if I needed him to wait for me but I said no.

Not long after, I had recovered sufficiently to sit on the restroom floor and from the other side of the door I heard him ask, “Are you feeling better, dear? Can I get you something?” I could not to rise right away but did manage to thank him and following a brief period regained the function of my feet. I got myself home passing the next few days getting over what turned out to be a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I did not see his features – only his legs along with a sizable steelwork tools container he was carrying – but he saved me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.

Often this world has a way of making you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. What he did was the kind of action that reverses that emotional callousness. He demonstrated that our default setting leans toward compassion, a trait I cherish in other people.