If you remember that some newspapers carried a story about a young man, struggling to make a career helped pay a stranded, traveler who needed extra cash for the excess baggage… that man is now President-elect Barrack Obama.

Well, this just happened today at about 1:30pm. I went out for lunch and to drop by my under-construction home. Suddenly, this man in his 60s comes out of no where in a derelict looking Nissan Sunny. He had tears in his eyes and asks for money for petrol to go back home to his sick wife. Whether he was trying to take advantage of me or cheat I do not know. At that moment I just remembered reading on Louis’ blog “being generous when you’re taken advantage of.”

He asked for my mobile number and said he’d pay back when it appeared that I was hesitating. I gave him RM20 and told him “Uncle, you don’t need to return the money” (in Cantonese of course). He wept as he drove off. I don’t know if I’ve been scammed but I think otherwise. It’s unlikely that he’ll be the next Prime Minister of Malaysia but I think the world would be a much better place if we all would commit to doing random acts of kindness every now and then.