In Such Poor Health I Was Unable to Walk As a Stranger Practically Supported Me to a Restroom.

During my nineteenth year, my morning travel was on an crowded coach. It was perpetually full and was consistently without any seats when I stepped aboard.

During a certain commute, I began feeling terribly ill while the vehicle lurched around the bends. I kept telling myself to persevere just a little longer before the bus reached my destination, and then I could rush hurriedly for the nearest public toilet to throw up.

As we neared the road leading to the destination as I realised I was unable to make it. Suddenly, it seemed a veil came over me. The world became white and really quiet; as if someone turned off the audio. My mind raced, “I’m going to faint”.

Fortunately, I stood toward the front of the bus, so I took a few steps forward and asked the driver to pull over, informing him I was going to vomit. He promptly opened the doors and I stumbled out out onto the street.

I was resolved to not get sick in view of multiple lanes of cars, so I forced myself up and began attempting to stumble across to the park opposite the street, where I thought it would allow me to secretly conceal myself among some shrubs to throw up. However I apparently fainted. I sensed my body but I was unable to walk or see clearly, leading me to start crawling towards my intended destination.

“Everything alright, love?”

Right then, I got scooped up. I felt a strong arm supporting me and a man’s voice asked, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I had to to vomit. Therefore, he almost helped me walk into a nearby building and put me inside the women’s restroom. He wanted to know whether I required him to stay with me but I refused.

After a short while, I regained my composure enough to sit on the restroom floor when from beyond the stall I heard his voice asking, “Are you feeling better, dear? Is there anything you require?” I was incapable to rise at that moment but did manage to say thank you and following a brief period regained the function of my feet. I got myself home passing several days recovering from what turned out to be a nasty tummy bug.

I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – merely his legs and the big metal toolbox he had with him – but he helped me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.

Often this world tends to make people guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that undoes that hardening of the heart. He demonstrated that our default setting is towards kindness, something I love about my fellow humans.