During the final years of the 1980s, I set out on a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a travel partner. Since my friend was considering starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had booked a 14-day stopover there en route to London.
We got to the student accommodation, a large multi-story edifice on the Manhattan's Upper West Side known as International House. Setting down our luggage, we made our way to the cafeteria, where we got some food, sat down, and began chatting with other diners.
Sitting next to me was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He asked me what I did, and I shared that I had just graduated with a science degree and had been performing experiments with electron microscopy.
He pointed out that there was an electron microscope unit at Columbia University – close to the engineering department, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I should apply for a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, telling him that I was heading off to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
The following day I toured the city, returning to the canteen that after dark. The Iraqi student came up to 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 gone to the trouble, I attended the interview – but right away informed my interviewer that I was without a work permit, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
Reflecting the city's spirit – a city where everything seems achievable – she said: “That can be arranged. What's your start date?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I was employed there for three years. One of the benefits was that I got free tuition at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to complete a graduate degree in global studies.
I never saw that student again and I can't recall his full name, but his incredible act of kindness changed my life in multiple respects. I lacked the confidence or self-belief to reach out at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Moreover, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.
Perhaps most importantly, that job in New York led me to a role in Europe where I got to know my handsome spouse from France, with whom I am raising four amazing children. It was a total sliding doors moment. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m always appreciative.
Can you recall the Kindest Gesture a Someone You Didn't Know Has Shown for You?
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