I Was So Ill Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Essentially Lifted Me to the Toilets.
At the age of my late teens, my daily commute meant taking an express bus. The vehicle was always crowded and would always be completely full once I stepped aboard.
During a certain commute, I started experiencing terribly ill while the vehicle lurched around the bends. I repeatedly told myself to persevere just a little longer before the bus got to my destination, so I could then sprint quickly for the nearest washroom to vomit.
The bus was approaching the road leading to the stop when I realised I wasn’t going to last. Suddenly, it was like a curtain fell over me. My vision turned hazy and muffled; similar to when one turned off the audio. I said to myself, “I will lose consciousness”.
Thankfully, I was positioned toward the front inside the vehicle, so I managed a few steps forward and requested that the driver to pull over, telling him that I was about to vomit. He promptly opened the doors and I weakly exited onto the sidewalk.
I was determined to avoid being sick in front of six lanes of traffic, so I picked myself up and began attempting to make my way to the park across the road, where I believed I could at least discreetly hide behind a bush to throw up. Yet I must have blacked out. I could feel my limbs, but walking was impossible or see properly, leading me to start dragging myself toward the park.
“Everything alright, love?”
Right then, I was lifted up. There was an arm around my waist and a man’s voice asked, “Everything alright, love?” I told this unknown man that I had to to be sick. Therefore, he almost helped me walk down into an adjacent building and placed me into the female bathroom. He wanted to know if I needed him to stay with me but I declined.
Not long after, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit on the restroom floor when from beyond the stall I heard him inquire, “Do you need anything, love? Do you need anything?” I wasn’t able to get up right away but did manage to say thank you and shortly thereafter was able to move my limbs. I returned home and then spent several days getting over what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.
I never glimpsed that man’s face – merely his legs along with a sizable steelwork tools container he was carrying – yet he rescued me, when I was in my weakest state.
Frequently, society has a way of making you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. What he did was the kind of action that undoes that hardening of the heart. He served as evidence that our default setting leans toward compassion, something I love in other people.
