In the late 1980s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a travel partner. Since my travel mate was considering pursuing a master’s degree in NYC, we had booked a fortnight visit there en route to London.
We reached the student accommodation, a big multi-story edifice on the Manhattan's Upper West Side named International House. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the canteen, where we picked up meals, sat down, and began chatting with people eating there.
Sitting next to me was an gentleman from Iraq enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He asked me what I did, and I told him that I had newly finished with a science degree and had been conducting research with electron microscopy.
He pointed out that there was an microscopy facility at the university – close to the engineering faculty, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I ought to seek a role with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, explaining that I was heading off 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 man from Iraq came up to me and informed me that he had set up a meeting for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Since he had gone to the trouble, I attended the interview – but straight off told my host that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a place where anything feels possible – she responded: “That can be arranged. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.
I worked there for a trio of years. One of the benefits was that I was granted complimentary education at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a graduate degree in global studies.
I never saw that student again and I can't recall his full name, but his remarkable generosity transformed my future in multiple respects. I lacked the courage or self-belief to approach someone at an elite institution and ask for a job. And, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.
Perhaps most importantly, that gig at Columbia led me to a role in Europe where I met my handsome spouse from France, with whom I currently share four wonderful sons and daughters. That encounter altered everything. That kind stranger set me on a different course in life, and I’m forever grateful.
Can you recall the Kindest Gesture a Someone You Didn't Know Has Once Performed for You?
Whether it's brightening your mood to transforming your future, we are interested in chance encounters that have remained in your memory.
Feel free to recount your experience if you are 18 or over, anonymously if you wish. Your responses are confidential, and will only be used the goal of sharing inspiring stories.
