During the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a low-cost journey to Europe with a travel partner. Since my companion was exploring enrolling in graduate studies in the Big Apple, we had arranged a fortnight visit there before heading to London.
We arrived at the graduate housing, a big 10-storey building on the UWS known as International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the dining hall, where we picked up meals, found a table, and started talking to people eating there.
Beside me was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He asked me what I did, and I told him that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been working on studies with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – adjacent to the engineering faculty, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He proposed that I ought to seek a position with them. I dismissed the idea, explaining that I was soon departing to Europe and, even more importantly, I lacked a US visa.
A day later I went out exploring, returning to the canteen that evening. The man from Iraq walked over 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 attended the interview – but straight off explained to 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 opportunities abound – she declared: “We can make that happen. When can you start?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for three years. A perk of the job was that I got no-cost classes at Columbia, and I took advantage to earn a graduate degree in global studies.
I never saw that student again and I don’t even know his name, but his selfless gesture transformed my future in multiple respects. I would never have had the bravery or self-belief to reach out at an prestigious college and ask for a job. Moreover, I had consistently hoped to take classes in another country, but lacked the financial means without that educational benefit.
Perhaps most importantly, that gig at Columbia resulted in a role in Europe where I encountered my wonderful partner, with whom I now have four wonderful sons and daughters. It was a total sliding doors moment. That kind stranger set me on a different course in life, and I’m always appreciative.
Can you recall the Kindest Gesture a Someone You Didn't Know Has Once Performed for You?
From brightening your mood to transforming your future, we are interested in chance encounters that have remained in your memory.
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