In Such Poor Health I Was Unable to Walk When a Man Virtually Carried Me to a Restroom.
At the age of my late teens, my morning travel was on an express bus. It remained jammed and would always be without any seats by the time I stepped aboard.
During a certain commute, I started experiencing terribly ill as the bus rocked around each corner. I kept telling myself to endure another few kilometres until the bus got to my destination, and then I could make a mad dash toward the most convenient public toilet to be sick.
The bus was approaching the avenue close to the destination as I realised I would not be to make it. All of a sudden, it seemed a veil came over me. My vision turned blank and silent; similar to when one cut the sound. I thought, “I’m going to faint”.
Luckily I was close to the driver on the bus, so I managed several steps forward and requested that the driver to pull over, explaining to him I was going to get ill. He opened the entrance and I stumbled out on to the pavement.
I was determined to avoid being sick in view of a busy multi-lane road, so I forced myself up and started trying to walk across to the park opposite the street, where I thought I’d at least be able to find some privacy among some shrubs to be sick. However I apparently fainted. I could feel my physical self, yet I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, leading me to start inching my way to the grassy area.
“Are you okay, dear?”
In that instant, I was lifted up. There was a strong arm supporting me and a man’s voice asked, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I needed to get to a bathroom. So he virtually helped me walk into a close-by structure and placed me inside the women’s restroom. He wanted to know if I needed him to stay with me but I refused.
A few minutes later, I felt better sufficiently to sit on the restroom floor and from the other side of the door I heard him inquire, “Are you OK, love? Do you need anything?” I wasn’t able to rise right away but I did succeed to express my gratitude and following a brief period regained the function of my feet. I made my way home passing several days getting over what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.
I never glimpsed that man’s face – merely his legs along with a sizable container for tools he had with him – yet he rescued me, during a time when I was in my weakest state.
Often this world has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. His was the sort of gesture that undoes that protective shell. He demonstrated that our default setting is towards kindness, a quality I adore in other people.