In the closing decade of the 80s, I was beginning a low-cost journey to the European continent with a companion. Because my friend was exploring starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had booked a fortnight visit there before heading to London.
We got to the postgrad residence, 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 got some food, sat down, and began chatting with fellow residents.
Beside me was an gentleman from Iraq enrolled in an engineering program at a prestigious New York university. He asked me what I did for a living, and I told him that I had newly finished with a science degree and had been conducting research using an electron microscope.
He noted that there was an microscopy facility at the university – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I consider applying for a role with them. I dismissed the idea, explaining that I was soon departing to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.
The following day I ventured out, coming back to the dining hall that evening. The man from Iraq came up to me and informed me that he had organized a discussion for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Since he had made the arrangement, I went to the meeting – but right away informed my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where everything seems achievable – she said: “We'll handle it. What's your start date?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I was employed there for 36 months. One of the benefits was that I was granted complimentary education at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to earn a postgrad program in international relations.
I never saw that student again and I don’t even know his full name, but his selfless gesture transformed my future in so many ways. I lacked the courage or self-belief to approach someone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Additionally, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but could never have afforded it without that free tuition.
Critically, that role at the university led me to a job in Zurich where I met my wonderful partner, with whom I am raising a family of four kids. This was a pivotal life event. That kind stranger changed my trajectory in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
Can you recall the Kindest Gesture a Stranger Has Shown for You?
From making your day to changing your life, we are interested in unexpected interactions that have left a lasting impression.
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