Feeling So Sick I Was Unable to Walk Until a Fellow Passenger Virtually Carried Me to the Toilets.

Back when I was nineteenth year, my daily commute was on an packed public transport. It was perpetually crowded and would always be standing room only when I boarded.

During a certain commute, I started experiencing terribly ill as the bus rocked around each corner. I continuously reassured myself to persevere just a little longer so the bus could reached my destination, so I could then rush hurriedly toward the most convenient public toilet to vomit.

The bus was approaching the street towards the stop when I realised I wasn’t going to hold on. Suddenly, it was like a curtain fell over me. My vision turned hazy and muffled; like someone had turned off the audio. I said to myself, “I will lose consciousness”.

Fortunately, I stood close to the driver on the bus, allowing me to take a few steps toward the driver and told the operator to stop, explaining to him I was going to vomit. The driver opened the bus doors and I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.

I was resolved to not get sick before multiple lanes of cars, so I picked myself up and started trying to stumble toward the green space across the road, thinking I could it would allow me to find some privacy behind a bush to throw up. But then I must have lost consciousness. I was aware of my body but I couldn’t walk or see clearly, leading me to start dragging myself toward my intended destination.

“Everything alright, love?”

At that moment, I got scooped up. I sensed someone holding me and heard a man say, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I had to to vomit. So he virtually carried me down into a nearby building and put me into the female bathroom. 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 restroom floor when from beyond the stall I heard him inquire, “Are you OK, love? Do you need anything?” I wasn’t able to rise at that moment but I did succeed to thank him and after a few more minutes recovered the use of my legs. I returned home passing the next few days recovering from what was later diagnosed as a nasty tummy bug.

I never glimpsed his features – only his legs and a large container for tools he had with him – yet he rescued me, at a moment I was in my weakest state.

Often this world has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. His act was the type of kindness that reverses that protective shell. He served as evidence that our default setting is to be kind, a quality I adore in other people.