A woman in Singapore was seen clasping her hands together to pay respect to a deity placed by the front door of a HDB unit, in what can be described as a spontaneous act of micro-compassion.

The short 9-second clip taken from a CCTV camera placed outside the HDB unit has been widely lauded after it appeared on Twitter on June 10, 2021.

We also have people like this in SG! 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/mTFtpaHbiv

— ᎠᎫ ՏᎪͲᎻᏆᎽᎪ (@iamdjsathiya) June 10, 2021

What video showed

A woman in a purple top, who appeared to be Chinese, could be seen emerging from the lift and walking towards the unit.

As she walked past the home, a resident, who appeared to be Indian, was outside along the corridor attending to the deity.

The woman in purple, who was masked, spontaneously clasped her hands in front of her face and nodded slightly as she walked past.

Her actions caught the resident off-guard, even though her back was facing the woman walking past.

The resident then did a double take to confirm what had just happened.

Responses

The small act won big praise online, in light of the recent unsavoury episodes of racism in Singapore.

These praises included:

even that woman was shock😂😂 but yes respect is the simplest act

even that woman was shock😂😂 but yes respect is the simplest act https://t.co/b2927UwGmq

— fk off (@_junitajohari) June 10, 2021

This made me so happy u dont understand

This made me so happy u dont understand https://t.co/F5Fsnwahag

— mavywavypoopoo (@kirenmvs) June 10, 2021

regardless of race, language or religion ❤️

https://twitter.com/shamgabrielle/status/1403058344663781379

Made me smile! ❤️❤️

Made me smile! ♥️♥️ https://t.co/G8WfY7Wcgk

— سليمة (@salimahrazak) June 10, 2021

However, this act of paying respect to deities has been observed to be frequently performed by the Chinese whenever they chance upon religious artefacts.

It has been attributed to their practice of polytheism.

All photos via