During the closing decade of the 80s, I was embarking on a low-cost journey to Europe with a companion. Because my friend was considering enrolling in graduate studies in NYC, we had booked a fortnight visit there before heading to London.
We reached the student accommodation, a sizeable 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side called International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the canteen, where we picked up meals, sat down, and began chatting with people eating there.
Sitting next to me was an Iraqi man studying engineering at Columbia University. He asked me what I did for a living, and I shared that I had newly finished with a science degree and had been working on studies involving microscopic analysis.
He pointed out that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – adjacent to the engineering faculty, which was how he knew about it. He suggested that I should apply for a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, telling him that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.
The following day I went out exploring, going back to the cafeteria that evening. The engineering student approached me and told me that he had organized a discussion for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Because he had taken the effort, I attended the interview – but immediately informed my interviewer that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.
As is common in NYC – a city where anything feels possible – she responded: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I worked there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I also received free tuition at Columbia, and I took advantage to finish a graduate degree in global studies.
We didn't cross paths after that and I am unaware of his full name, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in multiple respects. I lacked the courage or self-belief to reach out at an prestigious college and ask for a job. Additionally, I had consistently hoped to take classes in another country, but lacked the financial means without that educational benefit.
What's more, that role at the university paved the way for a job in Zurich where I met my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have a family of four kids. It was a total sliding doors moment. That kind stranger changed my trajectory in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
Can you recall the Most Generous Act a Unknown Person Has Shown for You?
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