In the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a low-cost journey to the European continent with a friend. Because my companion was exploring enrolling in graduate studies in NYC, we had arranged a 14-day stopover there on the way to London.
We reached the postgrad residence, a big ten-floor structure on the Manhattan's Upper West Side known as International House. Once we unpacked, we went directly to the cafeteria, where we grabbed food, found a table, and started talking to other diners.
Beside me was an gentleman from Iraq studying engineering at an Ivy League institution. He wanted to know what I did for a living, and I shared that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been conducting research with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an research lab at the institution – adjacent to the engineering department, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He proposed that I ought to seek a role with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, explaining that I was soon departing to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.
The next day I toured the city, coming back to the dining hall that evening. The engineering student came up to me and informed me that he had arranged an interview for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Given that he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but right away informed my host that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
As is common in NYC – a city where anything feels possible – she responded: “We can make that happen. When can you start?” I missed my plane to London.
I worked there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I got no-cost classes at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to earn a graduate degree in global studies.
I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his name, but his incredible act of kindness altered my destiny in multiple respects. I would never have had the bravery or self-assurance to reach out at an prestigious college and request employment. Additionally, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that educational benefit.
Perhaps most importantly, that role at the university resulted in a job in Zurich where I got to know my handsome spouse from France, with whom I now have four amazing children. It was a total sliding doors moment. That kind stranger changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.
What is the Kindest Gesture a Unknown Person Has Shown for You?
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