In Such Poor Health I Couldn’t Walk When a Man Practically Supported Me to a Restroom.

During my my late teens, my regular journey to work involved an crowded coach. It was perpetually jammed and was consistently standing room only by the time I got on.

During a certain commute, I was feeling incredibly sick while the vehicle lurched around the bends. I kept telling myself to hold on for a few more stops until the bus arrived at my destination, and then I could sprint quickly for the nearest public restroom to be sick.

We were coming down the avenue close to the destination as it dawned on me I wasn’t going to make it. In an instant, it was like a curtain fell over me. My vision turned white and really quiet; like someone had muted everything. I said to myself, “I will lose consciousness”.

Luckily I was near the front of the bus, so I took a few steps forward and requested that the driver to open the doors, telling him that I was about to get ill. The driver opened the bus doors and I weakly exited on to the pavement.

I was determined to avoid being sick before six lanes of traffic, so I forced myself up and started trying to walk to the park on the other side, where I thought it would allow me to find some privacy among some shrubs to be sick. However I must have blacked out. I could feel my physical self, yet I was unable to walk or see clearly, so I began inching my way to the park.

“Are you okay, dear?”

In that instant, I was lifted up. I felt a strong arm supporting me and a man’s voice asked, “Everything alright, love?” I told this unknown man that I had to to get to a bathroom. Therefore, he almost helped me walk into an adjacent building and put me inside the women’s restroom. He wanted to know if I needed him to stay with me but I declined.

A few minutes later, I had recovered to the point of sitting on the restroom floor when from beyond the door I heard him ask, “Are you OK, love? Is there anything you require?” I wasn’t able to get up at that moment but did manage to say thank you and shortly thereafter regained the function of my feet. I returned home and spent the following days recovering from what turned out to be a nasty tummy bug.

I never glimpsed his features – just his lower half and a large steelwork tools container he was carrying – but he helped me, at a moment I was in my weakest state.

Many times, life has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. His act was the type of kindness that melts away that emotional callousness. He was proof that our default setting is to be kind, a quality I adore about humanity.