During the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to Europe with a friend. Because my friend was interested in starting a postgraduate program in New York, we had arranged a 14-day stopover there en route to London.
We got to the graduate housing, a sizeable 10-storey building on the Upper West Side known as International House. After dropping our bags, we went directly to the dining hall, where we picked up meals, sat down, and started talking to fellow residents.
Adjacent to my seat was an individual of Iraqi origin pursuing an engineering degree at a prestigious New York university. He asked me what I did, and I shared that I had recently completed my studies with a degree in science and had been working on studies with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an electron microscope unit at Columbia University – adjacent to the engineering department, which was why he was aware of it. He recommended that I consider applying for a job with them. I dismissed the idea, explaining that I was soon departing to Europe and, even more importantly, I lacked a US visa.
The following day I toured the city, returning to the canteen that night. The man from Iraq approached me and told me that he had organized a discussion for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Since he had gone to the trouble, I went to the meeting – but straight off informed my interviewer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where opportunities abound – she responded: “That can be arranged. When can you start?” I never got on that flight to London.
I was employed there for 36 months. A perk of the job was that I was granted no-cost classes at Columbia, and I took advantage to finish a master’s of international affairs.
I never saw that student again and I can't recall his full name, but his incredible act of kindness altered my destiny in multiple respects. I didn't possess the bravery or self-assurance to contact anyone at an elite institution and request employment. Moreover, I had always wanted to take classes in another country, but lacked the financial means without that tuition waiver.
Critically, that role at the university resulted in a position in Switzerland where I got to know my handsome spouse from France, with whom I am raising four wonderful sons and daughters. That encounter altered everything. That kind stranger set me on a different course in life, and I’m forever grateful.
Can you recall the Most Generous Act a Unknown Person Has Once Performed for You?
Whether it's brightening your mood to changing your life, we are interested in random meetings that have stuck with you.
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