I Was So Ill Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Virtually Carried Me to a Bathroom.

Back when I was my late teens, my morning travel meant taking an express bus. It remained crowded and was consistently completely full when I boarded.

During a certain commute, I started experiencing terribly ill while the vehicle rocked around each corner. I kept telling myself to persevere just a little longer before the bus got to my stop, at which point I could rush hurriedly toward the most convenient public toilet to vomit.

The bus was approaching the road leading to my stop and I realised I wasn’t going to hold on. In an instant, it felt as if a curtain fell over me. The world became white and really quiet; like someone had turned off the audio. I said to myself, “I am about to pass out”.

Luckily I was close to the driver on the bus, allowing me to take several steps forward and told the operator to stop, explaining to him I was going to get ill. The driver opened the entrance and I hurriedly stepped onto the sidewalk.

I was determined to avoid being sick in front of multiple lanes of cars, so I forced myself up and started trying to walk to the park across the road, thinking I could I’d at least be able to secretly conceal myself near some foliage to be sick. However I likely fainted. I could feel my body but I was unable to walk or see clearly, leading me to start inching my way to the park.

“You right, love?”

In that instant, I was lifted up. I sensed a strong arm supporting me and a man’s voice asked, “Everything alright, love?” I managed to tell the unknown man that I had to to get to a bathroom. So he virtually helped me walk into an adjacent building and guided me inside the women’s restroom. He wanted to know if I needed him to stay with me but I said no.

A few minutes later, I had recovered to the point of sitting down and from outside the door came him inquire, “Are you feeling better, dear? Can I get you something?” I could not to get up just then but did manage to thank him and shortly thereafter recovered the use of my limbs. I made my way home and spent the next few days getting over which was a nasty tummy bug.

I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – 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.

Often this world can make you guarded, hostile, and combative. His was the sort of gesture that reverses that hardening of the heart. He served as evidence that our default setting leans toward compassion, a trait I cherish in other people.