During the closing decade of the 80s, I was beginning a backpacking trip to the European continent with a companion. Since my travel mate was considering starting a postgraduate program in New York, we had planned a two-week stay there en route to London.
We reached the graduate housing, a sizeable multi-story edifice on the Upper West Side known as International House. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the canteen, where we got some food, found a table, and started talking to fellow residents.
Sitting next to me was an gentleman from Iraq enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He inquired what I did, and I shared that I had recently completed my studies with a science degree and had been conducting research using an electron microscope.
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 consider applying for a job with them. I dismissed the idea, telling him that I was soon departing to Europe and, even more importantly, I did not possess a US visa.
The following day I ventured out, returning to the canteen that after dark. The engineering student came up to me and let me know that he had set up a meeting for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Since he had made the arrangement, I went to the meeting – but right away informed my prospective employer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
As is common in NYC – a metropolis where anything feels possible – she responded: “We'll handle it. What's your start date?” I never got on that flight to London.
I was employed there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I was granted no-cost classes at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a master’s of international affairs.
I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his name, but his remarkable generosity changed my life in so many ways. I would never have had the courage or self-assurance to reach out at an elite institution and ask for a job. And, I had long dreamed to pursue education overseas, but lacked the financial means without that free tuition.
What's more, that job in New York led me to a position in Switzerland where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I currently share a family of four kids. It was a total sliding doors moment. That kind stranger changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.
Can you recall the Nicest Thing a Unknown Person Has Ever Done for You?
Whether it's brightening your mood to transforming your future, we want to hear about random meetings that have remained in your memory.
Feel free to recount your experience if you are 18 or over, keeping your details private if you choose. The stories you tell are confidential, and are solely for the purpose of this feature.
