Feeling So Sick Walking Was Impossible As a Stranger Essentially Lifted Me to a Bathroom.

During my 19 years old, my daily commute involved an crowded coach. The vehicle was always full and invariably became without any seats by the time I stepped aboard.

During a certain commute, I began feeling quite nauseous when the coach lurched around each corner. I kept telling myself to persevere just a little longer until the bus arrived at my stop, at which point I could make a mad dash 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 make it. Suddenly, it felt as if a curtain fell over me. My vision turned white and really quiet; similar to when one cut the sound. I said to myself, “I am about to pass out”.

Luckily I was toward the front on the bus, allowing me to take several steps forward and requested that the driver to open the doors, telling him that I was about to get ill. The driver opened the doors and I stumbled out on to the pavement.

I was determined to not get sick before a busy multi-lane road, so I forced myself up and endeavored to make my way across to the park on the other side, where I thought I could at least discreetly hide behind a bush to be sick. Yet I likely blacked out. I was aware of my limbs, but walking was impossible or see clearly, leading me to start dragging myself toward the grassy area.

“You right, love?”

Right then, I got scooped up. There was someone holding me and a stranger inquired, “Everything alright, love?” I explained to this kind passerby that I needed to get to a bathroom. Therefore, he almost supported my weight into a nearby building and placed me in the ladies’ toilets. He wanted to know if I wanted him to remain with me but I said no.

A few minutes later, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit down and from the other side of the stall I heard him inquire, “Do you need anything, love? Do you need anything?” I could not to rise at that moment but I did succeed to say thank you and after a few more minutes regained the function of my legs. I got myself home passing several days healing from which was a horrible case of gastroenteritis.

I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – merely his legs and the big steelwork tools container he was carrying – but he helped me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.

Frequently, society can make you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His was the sort of gesture that undoes that emotional callousness. He served as evidence that our default setting is to be kind, a quality I adore in other people.