A Sikh woman's classy, thoughtful response to a mean-spirited photo of her posted on Reddit has not only warmed the hearts of people around the globe, it has even forced the man who posted the photo to look at his actions and repent.

The original poster, a student at Ohio State University who goes by the handle "European_Douchebag," posted the above photo with the caption "I'm not sure what to make of this."

Classmates of the woman in the photo, Balpreet Kaur, a neuroscience and psychology student who also attends Ohio State, alerted her to the post on Facebook. Kaur is Sikh, and will not alter her appearance because of those religious beliefs.

In a response to the post, Kaur shared the reasoning behind her appearance, and why what appeared to be a big deal to the man who posted the photo didn't matter to her at all.

"If the OP wanted a picture," she wrote, "they could have just asked and I could have smiled."

According to Kaur, Sikhs believe in the sacredness of the body, because "it is a gift that has been given to us by the Divine Being... Just as a child doesn't reject the gift of his/her parents, Sikhs do not reject the body that has been given to us."

One of the more poignant parts of the response was Kaur's in-depth explanation of why she holds her beliefs. "When I die, no one is going to remember what I looked like, heck, my kids will forget my voice, and slowly, all physical memory will fade away. However, my impact and legacy will remain: and, by not focusing on the physical beauty, I have time to cultivate those inner virtues and hopefully, focus my life on creating change and progress for this world in any way I can. So, to me, my face isn't important but the smile and the happiness that lie behind the face are."

The compassionate response garnered an incredible outpouring of support for Kaur. After reading through her response, the poster, who has remained anonymous, posted another thread — this time seeking forgiveness.

"I felt the need to apologize to the Sikhs, Balpreet, and anyone else I offended when I posted that picture.," the man wrote. "Put simply it was stupid. Making fun of people is funny to some but incredibly degrading to the people you're making fun of. It was an incredibly rude, judgmental, and ignorant thing to post."

"I'm sorry for being the part of reddit that is intolerant and douchebaggy," he continued. "I've read more about the Sikh faith and it was actually really interesting. It makes a whole lot of sense to work on having a legacy and not worrying about what you look like. I made that post for stupid internet points and I was ignorant."

According to Kaur's biography on Interfaith Youth Core, it says that she wants to "one day, save the world - one step at a time."

First step, accomplished.

You can follow the entire conversation on Reddit below.