In Such Poor Health Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Practically Supported Me to a Bathroom.
Back when I was my late teens, my regular journey to work was on an express bus. It was perpetually full and would always be standing room only when I boarded.
On one specific day, I started experiencing terribly ill when the coach lurched around every turn. I kept telling myself to persevere another few kilometres before the bus arrived at where I needed to get off, so I could then sprint quickly for the nearest public restroom to throw up.
As we neared the road leading to my stop and it dawned on me I would not be to last. Suddenly, it seemed a curtain fell over me. The world became hazy and muffled; as if someone muted everything. I thought, “I am about to pass out”.
Fortunately, I stood near the front on the bus, so I managed a couple of steps toward the driver and told the operator to open the doors, telling him I was going to vomit. He promptly opened the entrance and I hurriedly stepped onto the sidewalk.
I was resolved not to vomit before six lanes of traffic, so I forced myself up and began attempting to make my way across to the park on the other side, where I thought it would allow me to secretly conceal myself near some foliage to vomit. Yet I apparently blacked out. I sensed my body but I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, so I began dragging myself toward the grassy area.
“You right, love?”
Right then, someone picked me up. There was a strong arm supporting me and a stranger inquired, “You right, love?” I told this mysterious stranger that I required to get to a bathroom. Therefore, he almost helped me walk over to a nearby building and placed me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me if I needed him to stay with me but I said no.
A few minutes later, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit down when from beyond the door came him ask, “Do you need anything, love? Is there anything you require?” I was incapable to stand up at that moment but I did succeed to express my gratitude and after a few more minutes was able to move my limbs. I got myself home and then spent the next few days recovering from what turned out to be a horrible case of gastroenteritis.
I did not see his features – merely his legs and the big container for tools he was carrying – but he helped me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.
Often this world can make you defensive, aggressive and competitive. His was the sort of gesture that undoes that protective shell. He was proof that people’s natural inclination leans toward compassion, a quality I adore about my fellow humans.
