During the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a low-cost journey to Europe with a friend. Because my travel mate was interested in starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had arranged a 14-day stopover there on the way to London.
We arrived at the postgrad residence, a sizeable multi-story edifice on the Upper West Side called International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the cafeteria, where we got some food, took a seat, and began chatting with fellow residents.
Beside me was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at an Ivy League institution. He inquired what I did for a living, and I shared that I had just graduated with a science degree and had been conducting research involving microscopic analysis.
He pointed out that there was an microscopy facility at the university – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I should apply for a role with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, explaining that I was soon departing to Europe and, additionally, I did not possess a US visa.
A day later I went out exploring, going back to the cafeteria that night. The Iraqi student came up to me and told me that he had arranged an interview for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Given that he had made the arrangement, I went to the meeting – but straight off told my prospective employer that I was without a work permit, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
In typical New York fashion – a city where everything seems achievable – she declared: “That can be arranged. How soon can you begin?” I never got on that flight to London.
I was employed there for three years. A perk of the job was that I got free tuition at Columbia, and I took advantage to complete a graduate degree in global studies.
We didn't cross paths after that and I don’t even know his name, but his remarkable generosity changed my life in numerous aspects. I lacked the courage or nerve to approach someone at an Ivy League university and request employment. And, I had always wanted to take classes in another country, but lacked the financial means without that free tuition.
Perhaps most importantly, that job in New York paved the way for a role in Europe where I met my handsome spouse from France, with whom I am raising four wonderful sons and daughters. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m forever grateful.
Can you recall the Kindest Gesture a Stranger Has Once Performed for You?
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