These four words are words that I had never heard on public transportation growing up in Prague, Czech Republic. A man I had never seen or met before, wished me well - an experience that would shock any cold hearted European that I became in the 18 years I lived in the heart of Europe. Truthfully, this man’s words unsettled me and my automatic reaction was to question him and wonder what his intentions were.

I moved to Boston, Massachusetts on August 22, 2015 with no expectations or understanding what the American culture meant. My sister had already spent three years living in this city and mentioned to me how people expressed kindness to strangers. I did not think, however, that this would come as such a culture shock to an already multi cultured individual. In fact, not only was I raised in Europe, my family originates from the Indian subcontinent from a northern province called Gujarat. But also, my parents were born and raised in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and their parents hailed from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Despite having been exposed to so many cultures and traditions, and having grown up in a global community, I began to consider myself a citizen of the world. However, when I arrived in the US, I was introduced to an entirely new type of kindness that I had not yet experienced for myself.

In the Prague, using public transportation is a daily activity that services a diverse group of people. And unlike the T, the Czech metro system works at a much faster pace which, along with the fast paced culture, does not allow time for pleasantries that I have experienced living in the US for a year, from the East Coast to the West. Although I have never been greeted on public transportation by a stranger in Prague, I have experienced subtle yet powerful expressions of kindness. For example, when an elderly person enters any form of public transportation, any younger person gives their seat up for that person.

After having experienced my first T experienced I then realized that I was not a cold hearted European, rather kindness to me was expressed in different forms in the many places that I visited with family and friends while growing up. Despite the fact that kindness may not have a universal way of being expressed, it has become clear to me that kindness is indeed a universal concept that is interpreted differently by people of different sociocultural backgrounds around the world. To one person, what may seem kind may not necessarily apply to another.