“Kindness, Canada, and Chicago:  Mixing all three, one smile at a time!”

by Cher Garman

To me, kindness should be everyone’s middle name.  Or a pseudonym at the very least.  I am a Canadian who lives in Chicago.  I’ve been here for about 4 years.  To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in terms of similarities/differences between Canada and Chicago.  From shopping to snowfall, I started to notice familiar, comfortable things, and some not so familiar, uncomfortable things.

Canadians are known across the planet for being friendly, kind, and generous.  I try every single day to live up to these monikers bestowed upon my fellow Canadian countrymen.  But I must say that kindness here in Chicago has been a bit of a challenge; giving and receiving.  I’ll explain my comments.

One of the first weeks I lived in Chicago, I was in line at a local grocery…