In Such Poor Health I Was Unable to Walk As a Stranger Essentially Lifted Me to the Toilets.
During my nineteenth year, my daily commute involved an express bus. The vehicle was always jammed and would always be standing room only by the time I boarded.
On one specific day, I was feeling terribly ill as the bus swayed around every turn. I kept telling myself to hold on for a few more stops before the bus got to my stop, at which point I could make a mad dash for the nearest washroom to be sick.
We were coming down the street towards the stop when I understood I was unable to hold on. Suddenly, it was like a veil came over me. My vision turned blank and silent; similar to when one cut the sound. I thought, “I am about to pass out”.
Thankfully, I was positioned toward the front inside the vehicle, allowing me to take several steps toward the driver and requested that the driver to open the doors, telling him that I was about to be sick. He promptly opened the entrance and I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.
I was determined to not get sick in front of a busy multi-lane road, so I picked myself up and started trying to walk to the park across the road, where I believed it would allow me to find some privacy near some foliage to throw up. But then I apparently fainted. I sensed my physical self, yet I couldn’t walk or see clearly, leading me to start dragging myself toward the park.
“Are you okay, dear?”
Right then, I was lifted up. There was someone holding me and a stranger inquired, “You right, love?” I explained to this unknown man that I needed to get to a bathroom. Thus, he practically supported my weight down into an adjacent building and placed me in the ladies’ toilets. He wanted to know if I needed him to stay with me but I said no.
A few minutes later, I had recovered enough to sit down and from outside the door came his voice asking, “Are you OK, love? Can I get you something?” I wasn’t able to rise right away but I was able to thank him and shortly thereafter was able to move my limbs. I made my way home passing several days healing from which was a horrible case of gastroenteritis.
I never glimpsed his features – merely his legs along with a sizable steelwork tools container he was carrying – yet he rescued me, during a time when I was completely helpless.
Many times, life tends to make people guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that melts away that emotional callousness. He demonstrated that humanity’s innate tendency is to be kind, a quality I adore about humanity.
