Feeling So Sick I Couldn’t Walk As a Stranger Practically Supported Me to a Bathroom.

At the age of 19 years old, my morning travel involved an express bus. The vehicle was always full and would always be without any seats once I stepped aboard.

During a certain commute, I started experiencing terribly ill when the coach lurched around every turn. I kept telling myself to hold on another few kilometres before the bus got to my destination, and then I could rush hurriedly toward the most convenient washroom to vomit.

As we neared the street towards the stop when it dawned on me I was unable to make it. Suddenly, it seemed a fog descended upon me. My vision turned blank and silent; as if someone cut the sound. My mind raced, “I am about to pass out”.

Thankfully, I was positioned close to the driver on the bus, allowing me to take a couple of steps toward the driver and told the operator to open the doors, informing him that I was about to be sick. He promptly opened the doors and I stumbled out on to the pavement.

I was determined not to vomit in view of six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and started trying to walk across to the park on the other side, thinking I could I’d at least be able to find some privacy among some shrubs to throw up. But then I must have blacked out. I was aware of my body but I was unable to walk and my vision was blurry, so I began crawling towards the park.

“Are you okay, dear?”

Right then, someone picked me up. I sensed an arm around my waist and a man’s voice asked, “Are you okay, dear?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I needed to be sick. So he virtually helped me walk into a nearby building and put me inside the women’s restroom. He asked me if I wanted him to stay with me but I said no.

Not long after, I felt better enough to sit down when from beyond the door came his voice asking, “Are you OK, love? Do you need anything?” I could not to get up at that moment but did manage to express my gratitude and following a brief period regained the function of my feet. I made my way home and spent the following days recovering from what turned out to be a severe stomach virus.

I never saw the stranger’s face – just his lower half and a large container for tools he was carrying – but he helped me, at a moment I was in my weakest state.

Frequently, society has a way of making you defensive, aggressive and competitive. His was the sort of gesture that undoes that protective shell. He served as evidence that our default setting is towards kindness, something I love about my fellow humans.