In the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a low-cost journey to Europe with a travel partner. Because my friend was interested in starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had arranged a two-week stay there en route to London.
We reached the graduate housing, a sizeable 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side called International House. After dropping our bags, we headed straight to the cafeteria, where we got some 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 my profession was, and I told him that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been conducting research involving microscopic analysis.
He mentioned that there was an research lab at Columbia University – adjacent to the engineering department, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I ought to seek a role with them. I laughed it off, explaining that I was soon departing to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
A day later I toured the city, coming back to the dining hall that after dark. The engineering student approached me and told me that he had organized a discussion for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Because he had made the arrangement, I attended the interview – but straight off informed my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was unable to accept the role.
As is common in NYC – a city where anything feels possible – she responded: “That can be arranged. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.
I was employed there for three years. An advantage of the role was that I also received complimentary education at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a graduate degree in global studies.
I lost touch with him and I am unaware of his name, but his incredible act of kindness transformed my future in numerous aspects. I lacked the courage or self-assurance to reach out at an elite institution and seek a position. Additionally, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that free tuition.
Perhaps most importantly, that gig at Columbia led me to a role in Europe where I got to know my handsome spouse from France, with whom I currently share a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual changed my trajectory in life, and I’m always appreciative.
What is the Nicest Thing a Unknown Person Has Once Performed for You?
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