In Such Poor Health Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Essentially Lifted Me to a Bathroom.

At the age of my late teens, my morning travel was on an packed public transport. It remained crowded and was consistently without any seats once I boarded.

During a certain commute, I was feeling terribly ill as the bus lurched around each corner. I repeatedly told myself to hold on another few kilometres until the bus got to where I needed to get off, so I could then sprint quickly toward the most convenient washroom to be sick.

The bus was approaching the road leading to the destination as it dawned on me I wasn’t going to last. In an instant, it seemed a veil came over me. Everything just went hazy and muffled; similar to when one turned off the audio. My mind raced, “I’m going to faint”.

Luckily I was toward the front on the bus, allowing me to take a few steps toward the driver and requested that the driver to pull over, informing him that I was about to vomit. He promptly opened the doors and I stumbled out on to the pavement.

My intention was not to vomit before multiple lanes of cars, so I forced myself up and began attempting to make my way to the park across the road, thinking I could it would allow me to discreetly hide behind a bush to be sick. Yet I must have fainted. I was aware of my body but I was unable to walk and my vision was blurry, so I started inching my way to the grassy area.

“Everything alright, love?”

At that moment, I was lifted up. I felt someone holding me and heard a man say, “You right, love?” I told this kind passerby that I required to be sick. Thus, he practically carried me down into an adjacent building and put me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me if I wanted him to wait for me but I declined.

After a short while, I had recovered enough to sit on the toilet and from the other side of the door I heard him inquire, “Are you feeling better, dear? Is there anything you require?” I could not to stand up at that moment but I did succeed to say thank you and after a few more minutes regained the function of my feet. I made my way home and then spent several days healing from what turned out to be a severe stomach virus.

I did not see that man’s face – merely his legs and a large metal toolbox he was carrying – but he saved me, at a moment I was at my most vulnerable.

Often this world can make you guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that undoes that emotional callousness. He was proof that our default setting leans toward compassion, a trait I cherish about my fellow humans.