In the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a backpacking trip to the European continent with a companion. Because my companion was considering starting a postgraduate program in NYC, we had planned a 14-day stopover there en route to London.
We reached the postgrad residence, a big multi-story edifice on the Manhattan's Upper West Side named International House. After dropping our bags, we made our way to the canteen, where we picked up meals, found a table, and started talking to people eating there.
Beside me was an Iraqi man pursuing an engineering degree at an Ivy League institution. He wanted to know what I did, and I explained that I had newly finished with a degree in science and had been performing experiments involving microscopic analysis.
He mentioned that there was an research lab at the institution – adjacent to the engineering department, which was why he was aware of it. He recommended that I ought to seek a role with them. I laughed it off, saying that I was soon departing to Europe and, even more importantly, I lacked a US visa.
A day later I went out exploring, coming back to the dining hall that after dark. The Iraqi student came up to me and told me that he had arranged an interview for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Given that he had made the arrangement, I went to the meeting – but straight off told my host that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was unable to accept the role.
In typical New York fashion – a city where anything feels possible – she said: “We can make that happen. What's your start date?” I missed my plane to London.
I worked there for a trio of years. An advantage of the role was that I was granted no-cost classes at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to earn a postgrad program in international relations.
I never saw that student again and I am unaware of his full name, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in so many ways. I didn't possess the confidence or self-belief to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and request employment. And, I had always wanted to pursue education overseas, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.
Perhaps most importantly, that role at the university resulted in a job in Zurich where I got to know my handsome spouse from France, with whom I now have a family of four kids. It was a total sliding doors moment. That helpful person changed my trajectory in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
Can you recall the Nicest Thing a Unknown Person Has Ever Done for You?
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