During the late 1980s, I set out on a backpacking trip to the European continent with a friend. Because my companion was considering starting a postgraduate program in New York, we had arranged a fortnight visit there on the way to London.
We reached the postgrad residence, a sizeable ten-floor structure on the Upper West Side named International House. Once we unpacked, we went directly to the canteen, where we got some food, took a seat, and began chatting with people eating there.
Sitting next to me was an Iraqi man studying engineering at a prestigious New York university. He asked me what I did for a living, and I shared that I had newly finished with a scientific background and had been working on studies involving microscopic analysis.
He mentioned that there was an research lab at the institution – close to the engineering department, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I ought to seek a role with them. I dismissed the idea, telling him that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.
The next day I toured the city, returning to the canteen that night. The man from Iraq approached 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 made the arrangement, I went to the meeting – but immediately informed my prospective employer that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a city where anything feels possible – she declared: “That can be arranged. How soon can you begin?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I was employed there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I was granted free tuition at Columbia, and I took advantage to complete a postgrad program in international relations.
I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his identity, but his remarkable generosity changed my life in multiple respects. I didn't possess the confidence or nerve to approach someone at an prestigious college and request employment. Additionally, I had consistently hoped to pursue education overseas, but could never have afforded it without that free tuition.
What's more, that job in New York resulted in a position in Switzerland where I encountered my handsome spouse from France, with whom I now have a family of four kids. It was a total sliding doors moment. That benevolent individual changed my trajectory in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
Can you recall the Kindest Gesture a Stranger Has Once Performed for You?
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