SINGAPORE – A video clip posted on Facebook of a Welshman who made a boy’s day by giving him a “spin” on his wakeboard in an MRT train has got netizens praising the man for his kind gesture.

The clip was shot by street-dance instructor Ian Poh, 26, on Sunday night and posted that night. It has garnered over 8,790 views and 2,270 shares as of 2pm yesterday.

Mr Poh told My Paper that he was on his way home from work and boarded a Circle Line train at HarbourFront Station at about 9pm. He entered the same cabin as Mr Rhys Spencer, 30, who had just returned from a wakeboarding session in Batam.

My Paper contacted Mr Spencer, who said he noticed a boy, sitting with a man who could have been a family member, staring intently at his wakeboard. Sensing the boy’s curiosity, he invited the boy for a “ride” on it.

The video shows Mr Spencer helping the boy into the wakeboard’s bindings before pulling it across the floor – but not without insisting the boy wore his helmet for safety. He also showed the boy online wakeboarding videos on the smartphone of the latter’s guardian.

Mr Poh said that the boy later thanked Mr Spencer and told him that he was inspired to grow up to be just like him.

Mr Spencer works as a product manager and has been living in Singapore for the past five years. He is applying for permanent residency.

Last month, South Korean undergraduate Choi Dae Ho, 22, gave his slippers to a barefoot elderly woman on a bus here, in another instance of a stranger showing kindness.

Dr William Wan, general secretary of the Singapore Kindness Movement, said that only when people stop seeing “invisible lines” can they “be in the right state of mind for kindness to take hold”. Examples of such “invisible lines” include race, religion or political beliefs.

First published in My Paper – March 6, 2013