During the final years of the 1980s, I set out on a backpacking trip to the European continent with a friend. Since my friend was considering pursuing a master’s degree in the Big Apple, we had planned a fortnight visit there before heading to London.
We reached the student accommodation, a big 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side called International House. After dropping our bags, we went directly to the dining hall, where we grabbed food, found a table, and began chatting with fellow residents.
Beside me was an Iraqi man studying engineering at a prestigious New York university. He inquired what I did for a living, and I told him that I had recently completed my studies with a degree in science and had been working on studies using an electron microscope.
He noted that there was an microscopy facility at Columbia University – right next door to the school of engineering, which was why he was aware of it. He recommended that I consider applying for a job with them. I laughed it off, saying that I was about to fly to Europe and, even more importantly, I lacked a US visa.
The next day I toured the city, going back to the cafeteria that night. The Iraqi student approached me and informed me that he had organized a discussion for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Because he had taken the effort, I attended the interview – but straight off told my interviewer that I was without a work permit, so I was unable to accept the role.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where everything seems achievable – she responded: “We can make that happen. How soon can you begin?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I held that position for a trio of years. One of the benefits was that I also received 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 am unaware of his name, but his remarkable generosity changed my life in multiple respects. I would never have had the confidence or self-belief to reach out at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Moreover, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.
Critically, that job in New York paved the way for a position in Switzerland where I encountered my handsome spouse from France, with whom I now have a family of four kids. This was a pivotal life event. That helpful person set me on a different course in life, and I’m forever grateful.
Can you recall the Nicest Thing a Unknown Person Has Ever Done for You?
From cheering you up to altering your path, we would love to know chance encounters that have left a lasting impression.
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