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During the year 2006, My journey took me to Canberra for an admissions interview for medical school. My plan was to book lodging after getting there, but upon reaching the city, a major event was in town and every single budget hostels and cheap hotels were fully booked.

Coming from Singapore, the idea crossed my mind maybe I could bed down in the terminal – but soon learned that airport, unlike Singapore’s, closes all night. Not knowing what my next move should be and feeling increasingly desperate, I hopped on public transport and began walking towards the casino, thinking it was a place to spend those hours in an establishment operating 24/7. This was not ideal at my peak for nailing a crucial interview the following day, yet, as a broke student, I couldn’t afford.

We could all use more individuals with such compassion.

Apparently, I appeared lost since a female student noticed me walking aimlessly through the city center and wondered if everything was alright. I shared my predicament and immediately she offered I could sleep on the floor in her student dorm at ANU – a perfect solution, given that my my medical school interview was scheduled for the next day. She even offered me some free dinner: one of the sandwiches she had taken home her part-time job. I was able to use the bathroom and a protected spot and secure to spend the night.

In retrospect, I can appreciate the enormous leap of faith she undertook as a young woman allowing a male stranger she’d just met sleep on her floor. In those days I was in my own unawareness and was oblivious about things like that. Now, as a father, it astounds me she did that – but still deeply appreciative.

Ultimately, I did not attending ANU, and I didn’t meet that kind stranger again, yet her memory has stayed with me her amazing act of kindness. My sincere desire is that karma has returned her good deed abundantly. Our society requires more individuals with such compassion.