In the closing decade of the 80s, I was embarking on a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a friend. Since my travel mate was considering starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had booked a two-week stay there en route to London.
We reached the student accommodation, a big multi-story edifice on the Manhattan's Upper West Side called International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the canteen, where we picked up meals, sat down, and started talking to other diners.
Beside me was an Iraqi man pursuing an engineering degree at a prestigious New York university. He asked me what I my profession was, and I explained that I had newly finished with a science degree and had been performing experiments using an electron microscope.
He pointed out that there was an research lab at the institution – close to the school of engineering, which was how he knew about it. He proposed that I consider applying for a position with them. I laughed it off, telling him that I was heading off to Europe and, even more importantly, I didn’t have a US visa.
The next day I went out exploring, returning to the canteen that night. The engineering student came up to me and let me know that he had set up a meeting for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Since he had gone to the trouble, I went to the meeting – but straight off informed my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
As is common in NYC – a place where anything feels possible – she declared: “That can be arranged. How soon can you begin?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I worked there for three years. A perk of the job was that I was granted no-cost classes at Columbia, and I seized the chance to finish a graduate degree in global studies.
I lost touch with him and I am unaware of his identity, but his selfless gesture changed my life in multiple respects. I didn't possess the courage or self-belief to approach someone at an Ivy League university and seek a position. Additionally, I had long dreamed to pursue education overseas, but lacked the financial means without that educational benefit.
Critically, that gig at Columbia led me to a position in Switzerland where I encountered my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That kind stranger changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.
Can you recall the Kindest Gesture a Unknown Person Has Shown for You?
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