Feeling So Sick Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Practically Supported Me to the Toilets.
At the age of my late teens, my daily commute meant taking an crowded coach. It remained full and would always be without any seats when I boarded.
During a certain commute, I began feeling incredibly sick while the vehicle rocked around the bends. I repeatedly told myself to endure for a few more stops before the bus arrived at where I needed to get off, and then I could sprint quickly toward the most convenient public toilet to be sick.
The bus was approaching the avenue close to the stop when it dawned on me I would not be to last. Suddenly, it felt as if a fog descended upon me. The world became white and really quiet; like someone had cut the sound. My mind raced, “I will lose consciousness”.
Thankfully, I was positioned toward the front of the bus, so I took a few steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to open the doors, informing him I was going to get ill. The driver opened the doors and I weakly exited onto the sidewalk.
My intention was to not get sick in view of six lanes of traffic, so I picked myself up and began attempting to make my way to the park on the other side, where I believed I’d at least be able to find some privacy behind a bush to vomit. Yet I likely blacked out. I sensed my limbs, but I was unable to walk and my vision was blurry, leading me to start crawling towards my intended destination.
“You right, love?”
At that moment, I got scooped up. There was someone holding me and heard a man say, “You right, love?” I explained to this mysterious stranger that I had to to be sick. So he virtually helped me walk into a close-by structure and guided me in the ladies’ toilets. He wanted to know whether I required him to stay with me but I said no.
A few minutes later, I felt better to the point of sitting down when from beyond the door I heard him inquire, “Do you need anything, love? Is there anything you require?” I wasn’t able to rise at that moment but I did succeed to thank him and after a few more minutes recovered the use of my limbs. I got myself home and spent several days healing from what was later diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.
I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – just his lower half and the big container for tools he held – yet he rescued me, at a moment I was completely helpless.
Frequently, society can make you guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that reverses that emotional callousness. He served as evidence that humanity’s innate tendency is towards kindness, a trait I cherish about my fellow humans.
