In Such Poor Health I Was Unable to Walk As a Stranger Virtually Carried Me to the Toilets.

During my nineteenth year, my morning travel involved an crowded coach. It remained jammed and was consistently completely full when I got on.

One particular morning, I started experiencing quite nauseous while the vehicle rocked around the bends. I kept telling myself to persevere another few kilometres so the bus could got to my destination, so I could then rush hurriedly to the closest public restroom to throw up.

As we neared the road leading to my stop and it dawned on me I was unable to make it. Suddenly, it seemed a veil came over me. Everything just went hazy and muffled; similar to when one turned off the audio. I said to myself, “I will lose consciousness”.

Luckily I was near the front on the bus, allowing me to take a few steps toward the driver and told the operator to open the doors, explaining to him I needed to vomit. He promptly opened the bus doors and I weakly exited on to the pavement.

I was determined to avoid being sick in front of a busy multi-lane road, so I gathered myself and started trying to walk across to the park opposite the street, where I believed I could at least secretly conceal myself near some foliage to vomit. But then I likely blacked out. I sensed my physical self, yet I was unable to walk or see properly, so I began dragging myself toward my intended destination.

“Are you okay, dear?”

At that moment, I was lifted up. There was a strong arm supporting me and heard a man say, “Everything alright, love?” I explained to this unknown man that I required to get to a bathroom. So he virtually carried me into an adjacent building and put me inside the women’s restroom. He asked me whether I required him to wait for me but I said no.

After a short while, I had recovered to the point of sitting on the restroom floor and from outside the door came his voice asking, “Are you OK, love? Is there anything you require?” I could not to stand up at that moment but I was able to say thank you and following a brief period regained the function of my legs. I made my way home passing several days recovering from what turned out to be a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I never saw the stranger’s face – merely his legs and a large steelwork tools container he held – yet he rescued me, during a time when I was in my weakest state.

Frequently, society has a way of making you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His was the sort of gesture that reverses that hardening of the heart. He demonstrated that our default setting leans toward compassion, a quality I adore in other people.