Feeling So Sick I Couldn’t Walk When a Man Essentially Lifted Me to a Restroom.
Back when I was nineteenth year, my regular journey to work involved an packed public transport. It was perpetually full and invariably became standing room only once I got on.
On one specific day, I started experiencing quite nauseous while the vehicle swayed around every turn. I kept telling myself to persevere another few kilometres until the bus arrived at my destination, at which point I could make a mad dash to the closest public toilet to be sick.
We were coming down the avenue close to the stop when it dawned on me I was unable to hold on. All of a sudden, it was like a curtain fell over me. The world became hazy and muffled; similar to when one muted everything. I thought, “I will lose consciousness”.
Thankfully, I was positioned toward the front inside the vehicle, allowing me to take a few steps toward the driver and told the operator to open the doors, telling him that I was about to vomit. He promptly opened the doors and I weakly exited out onto the street.
I was determined not to vomit before a busy multi-lane road, so I gathered myself and began attempting to stumble to the park opposite the street, thinking I could it would allow me to discreetly hide behind a bush to vomit. Yet I likely blacked out. I was aware of my body but I was unable to walk or see properly, leading me to start inching my way to the grassy area.
“Everything alright, love?”
Right then, someone picked me up. I sensed someone holding me and a man’s voice asked, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I needed to be sick. So he virtually supported my weight over to an adjacent building and placed me inside the women’s restroom. He asked me if I needed him to stay with me but I said no.
After a short while, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit down when from beyond the stall I heard him inquire, “Do you need anything, love? Is there anything you require?” I could not to rise right away but did manage to thank him and after a few more minutes regained the function of my limbs. I made my way home and spent the following days getting over what was later diagnosed as a horrible case of gastroenteritis.
I never glimpsed his features – merely his legs along with a sizable metal toolbox he held – but he saved me, when I was at my most vulnerable.
Often this world has a way of making you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. What he did was the kind of action that undoes that protective shell. He was proof that our default setting is towards kindness, a trait I cherish in other people.