During the late 1980s, I was embarking on a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a friend. Since my friend was considering pursuing a master’s degree in the Big Apple, we had arranged a 14-day stopover there on the way to London.
We arrived at the graduate housing, a sizeable multi-story edifice on the Manhattan's Upper West Side named International House. Once we unpacked, we headed straight to the dining hall, where we grabbed food, took a seat, and started talking to other diners.
Beside me was an gentleman from Iraq studying engineering at an Ivy League institution. He inquired what I did for a living, and I told him that I had newly finished with a degree in science and had been working on studies with electron microscopy.
He mentioned that there was an microscopy facility at Columbia University – adjacent to the engineering department, which was how he knew about it. He proposed that I should apply for a position with them. I laughed it off, explaining that I was soon departing to Europe and, additionally, I did not possess a US visa.
The following day I went out exploring, coming back to the dining hall that after dark. The Iraqi student came up to me and let me know that he had arranged an interview for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Because he had gone to the trouble, I showed up for the discussion – but straight off informed my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
As is common in NYC – a city where opportunities abound – she declared: “We can make that happen. What's your start date?” I missed my plane to London.
I held that position for 36 months. A perk of the job was that I also received free tuition at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to complete a postgrad program in international relations.
We didn't cross paths after that and I can't recall his identity, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in so many ways. I lacked the courage or self-belief to reach out at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Additionally, I had consistently hoped to pursue education overseas, but could never have afforded it without that educational benefit.
Critically, that role at the university led me to a job in Zurich where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I am raising a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual set me on a different course in life, and I’m always appreciative.
What is the Kindest Gesture a Stranger Has Once Performed for You?
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