Singapore—To many people, little acts of kindness can go a very long way. For one tired woman and her family, this was obviously the case. She showed her gratefulness to a kind Singaporean soldier who went out of his way to show them the way to the National Day preview on Saturday, July 13, when they had gotten lost.
Not only did the young man actually take Facebook user Benita Lin and her family there—and she described it as a long walk—he also carried her little nephew, who may be a toddler, but, as Ms Lin wrote, “who is not exactly very light I must add LOL.”
Ms Lin’s gratefully told her story on Facebook on Sunday, July 14, along with a photo of the young soldier carrying her small nephew. The soldier’s back is to the camera, and they never caught his full name, but as Ms Lin’s post went viral, the soldier ended up commenting on her post himself.
Benita Lin’s story
Ms Lin wrote that on Saturday, “my family and I went down to the Padang for the NE show.”
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156757212434833&set=a.10150382952619833&type=3&theater
While she had used Google maps to find their way, they ended up at Esplanade MRT station and walked towards the Padang. They saw some soldiers at Raffles Avenue and asked for instructions to get to the show, which is when they found out that they were still a good distance away.
Ms Lin wrote, “Was honestly a little sian already as it was just me with my parents, sis-in-law’s parents, uncle, and 4- and 2-year old niece and nephew, and as anyone who knows me can attest, my sense of direction honestly sucks lol so I already felt bad for leading the group the wrong way.”
But the kind soldier, fearing the family would get lost, offered to walk them to the venue.
Ms Lin continued, “That in itself was already a very kind act as he went out of his way to walk us (a very long walk) there.”
And, if that were not enough, he also ended up carrying her nephew so that Ms Lin’s mother would not have to bear the boy’s weight on the long walk.
“But what impressed us most was when he even helped my mom carry Elijah (who is not exactly very light I must add LOL) all the way to the right entrance.”
She and her family were gratified for his kindness and wanted to thank him personally, tagging the Army’s Facebook account for help.
“Just wanted to commend this dude for going the extra mile to help my family! Believe he is from Guards, and his name according to his tag is YY Tan. Unfortunately, don’t have a picture of him from the front and also do not know his ranking (though a friend from Guards who recognises his initials says he might be an OC?)
The Singapore Army Hopefully you’ll be able to find out this guy’s identity, and help convey our thanks and gratitude!”
Netizens were happy to hear about the young man’s kindness.
The soldier, whose name turned out to be CPT Tan Yan Yang, ended up thanking Ms Lin in turn.
Ms Lin’s post has been shared hundreds of times, and even the Facebook page NDP show told the story, writing, “Thank you for being such an inspiration.”
/ TISG
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