In Such Poor Health I Was Unable to Walk When a Man Practically Supported Me to a Bathroom.
At the age of my late teens, my regular journey to work meant taking an packed public transport. It was perpetually crowded and invariably became without any seats once I stepped aboard.
During a certain commute, I was feeling incredibly sick as the bus rocked around the bends. I kept telling myself to endure just a little longer before the bus arrived at my destination, at which point I could make a mad dash to the closest washroom to be sick.
The bus was approaching the street towards the destination as it dawned on me I would not be to hold on. In an instant, it felt as if a veil came over me. Everything just went blank and silent; as if someone muted everything. I thought, “I am about to pass out”.
Thankfully, I was positioned toward the front inside the vehicle, so I managed a few steps toward the driver and asked the driver to stop, informing him that I was about to vomit. He promptly opened the entrance and I hurriedly stepped onto the sidewalk.
I was determined not to vomit in front of multiple lanes of cars, so I picked myself up and endeavored to walk to the park on the other side, thinking I could I’d at least be able to secretly conceal myself among some shrubs to be sick. Yet I likely fainted. I could feel my physical self, yet I was unable to walk or see clearly, so I started crawling towards the park.
“You right, love?”
In that instant, someone picked me up. There was someone holding me and a man’s voice asked, “Everything alright, love?” I told this kind passerby that I needed to get to a bathroom. So he virtually carried me into a close-by structure and put me inside the women’s restroom. He asked me whether I required him to stay with me but I refused.
A few minutes later, I had recovered to the point of sitting down and from the other side of the door came his voice asking, “Are you OK, love? Is there anything you require?” I wasn’t able to get up right away but I was able to say thank you and shortly thereafter was able to move my legs. I made my way home and spent the next few days healing from what turned out to be a nasty tummy bug.
I never saw that man’s face – just his lower half along with a sizable metal toolbox he held – but he helped me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.
Frequently, society has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that undoes that hardening of the heart. He was proof that people’s natural inclination is towards kindness, a trait I cherish about humanity.
