Feeling So Sick I Couldn’t Walk Until a Fellow Passenger Essentially Lifted Me to a Bathroom.
During my nineteenth year, my morning travel involved an packed public transport. The vehicle was always jammed and invariably became standing room only when I got on.
On one specific day, I started experiencing terribly ill as the bus swayed around every turn. I kept telling myself to persevere for a few more stops so the bus could arrived at my stop, at which point I could sprint quickly for the nearest washroom to throw up.
The bus was approaching the road leading to the destination as I understood I wasn’t going to make it. All of a sudden, it was like a fog descended upon me. Everything just went white and really quiet; similar to when one cut the sound. I thought, “I am about to pass out”.
Luckily I was toward the front of the bus, so I managed several steps toward the driver and asked the driver to pull over, explaining to him I needed to vomit. The driver opened the bus doors and I weakly exited onto the sidewalk.
My intention was to avoid being sick in front of six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and started trying to make my way across to the park on the other side, where I thought I’d at least be able to discreetly hide behind a bush to be sick. However I must have blacked out. I could feel my body but I couldn’t walk and my vision was blurry, leading me to start inching my way to the park.
“Are you okay, dear?”
Right then, I got scooped up. I felt someone holding me and heard a man say, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the mysterious stranger that I had to to get to a bathroom. Therefore, he almost carried me over to a close-by structure and guided me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me whether I required him to remain with me but I said no.
A few minutes later, I felt better enough to sit on the restroom floor and from the other side of the door came him inquire, “Do you need anything, love? Is there anything you require?” I wasn’t able to stand up right away but I was able to express my gratitude and following a brief period was able to move my limbs. I got myself home and then spent the next few days getting over what turned out to be a severe stomach virus.
I never saw his features – merely his legs along with a sizable container for tools he had with him – but he saved me, when I was at my most vulnerable.
Frequently, society can make you guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that reverses that hardening of the heart. He was proof that our default setting leans toward compassion, a quality I adore about humanity.