In Such Poor Health Walking Was Impossible When a Man Practically Supported Me to the Toilets.

At the age of my late teens, my morning travel was on an crowded coach. It remained full and would always be completely full when I stepped aboard.

One particular morning, I began feeling terribly ill when the coach lurched around the bends. I continuously reassured myself to persevere just a little longer until the bus got to my stop, at which point I could make a mad dash toward the most convenient public restroom to be sick.

We were coming down the road leading to the destination as I understood I wasn’t going to make it. In an instant, it felt as if a fog descended upon me. Everything just went white and really quiet; as if someone muted everything. I said to myself, “I’m going to faint”.

Luckily I was toward the front on the bus, allowing me to take several steps toward the driver and asked the driver to open the doors, telling him that I was about to vomit. He opened the bus doors and I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.

I was determined to not get sick in view of six lanes of traffic, so I forced myself up and started trying to stumble across to the park across the road, where I thought I’d at least be able to find some privacy near some foliage to throw up. However I likely blacked out. I sensed my limbs, but I couldn’t walk or see properly, so I began crawling towards the grassy area.

“You right, love?”

In that instant, I was lifted up. There was someone holding me and heard a man say, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the unknown man that I required to get to a bathroom. Therefore, he almost helped me walk into a close-by structure and placed me in the ladies’ toilets. He asked me if I wanted him to remain with me but I declined.

Not long after, I had recovered sufficiently to sit on the restroom floor when from beyond the stall I heard him inquire, “Are you feeling better, dear? Can I get you something?” I could not to rise at that moment but did manage to express my gratitude and after a few more minutes regained the function of my feet. I got myself home and spent the following days healing from what was later diagnosed as a nasty tummy bug.

I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – merely his legs and a large metal toolbox he was carrying – but he helped me, when I was in my weakest state.

Often this world has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that undoes that emotional callousness. He was proof that humanity’s innate tendency is towards kindness, a trait I cherish in other people.