During the late 1980s, I was embarking on a low-cost journey to Europe with a companion. Since my friend was exploring starting a postgraduate program in New York, we had arranged a 14-day stopover there before heading to London.
We reached the graduate housing, a large ten-floor structure on the UWS known as International House. After dropping our bags, we headed straight to the dining hall, where we got some food, found a table, and began chatting with people eating there.
Beside me was an Iraqi man studying engineering at an Ivy League institution. He asked me what I did for a living, and I shared that I had recently completed my studies with a science degree and had been working on studies using an electron microscope.
He pointed out that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – right next door to the engineering faculty, which was how he knew about it. He recommended that I should apply for a position with them. I laughed it off, telling him that I was heading off to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
The following day I went out exploring, returning to the canteen that evening. The man from Iraq walked over to me and informed me that he had organized a discussion for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Because he had made the arrangement, I went to the meeting – but immediately informed my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a city where opportunities abound – she declared: “That can be arranged. What's your start date?” I never got on that flight to London.
I was employed there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I got complimentary education at Columbia, and I took advantage to finish a postgrad program in international relations.
I never saw that student again and I don’t even know his identity, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in numerous aspects. I didn't possess the courage or self-belief to contact anyone at an prestigious college and ask for a job. Moreover, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but could never have afforded it without that free tuition.
What's more, that gig at Columbia paved the way for a position in Switzerland where I encountered my beautiful French husband, with whom I currently share four wonderful sons and daughters. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual changed my trajectory in life, and I’m always appreciative.
Can you recall the Kindest Gesture a Unknown Person Has Shown for You?
From brightening your mood to changing your life, we are interested in random meetings that have remained in your memory.
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