Feeling So Sick Walking Was Impossible When a Man Practically Supported Me to a Bathroom.
At the age of nineteenth year, my morning travel meant taking an crowded coach. It remained crowded and would always be without any seats by the time I boarded.
On one specific day, I was feeling incredibly sick as the bus lurched around the bends. I repeatedly told myself to hold on for a few more stops before the bus arrived at my destination, so I could then sprint quickly toward the most convenient washroom to throw up.
As we neared the avenue close to the stop when I understood I was unable to make it. In an instant, it was like a veil came over me. My vision turned white and really quiet; as if someone turned off the audio. I said to myself, “I’m going to faint”.
Luckily I was near the front on the bus, so I managed a few steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to pull over, telling him I was going to vomit. The driver opened the entrance and I hurriedly stepped on to the pavement.
My intention was not to vomit in view of multiple lanes of cars, so I forced myself up and began attempting to make my way across to the park opposite the street, where I believed I’d at least be able to secretly conceal myself among some shrubs to vomit. But then I must have blacked out. I sensed my body but walking was impossible or see properly, so I started dragging myself toward my intended destination.
“Are you okay, dear?”
At that moment, someone picked me up. I sensed an arm around my waist and a stranger inquired, “Everything alright, love?” I told this unknown man that I had to to vomit. Therefore, he almost carried me down into an adjacent building and put me into the female bathroom. He asked me if I needed him to stay with me but I declined.
Not long after, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit on the restroom floor when from beyond the door I heard his voice asking, “Are you feeling better, dear? Is there anything you require?” I was incapable to stand up right away but I was able to thank him and after a few more minutes was able to move my limbs. I got myself home and then spent several days getting over what turned out to be a horrible case of gastroenteritis.
I did not see that man’s face – merely his legs along with a sizable steelwork tools container he was carrying – but he helped me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.
Often this world can make you defensive, aggressive and competitive. His was the sort of gesture that melts away that emotional callousness. He served as evidence that our default setting is to be kind, a quality I adore in other people.