In the late 1980s, I was embarking on a budget travel adventure to Europe with a friend. Since my friend was interested in starting a postgraduate program in New York, we had arranged a 14-day stopover there on the way to London.
We reached the postgrad residence, a sizeable multi-story edifice on the Manhattan's Upper West Side known as International House. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the canteen, where we grabbed food, took a seat, and started talking to fellow residents.
Adjacent to my seat was an individual of Iraqi origin enrolled in an engineering program at an Ivy League institution. He wanted to know what I did, and I told him that I had just graduated with a science degree and had been performing experiments with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an research lab at the institution – right next door to the engineering department, which was how he knew about it. He recommended that I ought to seek a job with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, telling him that I was about to fly to Europe and, even more importantly, I lacked a US visa.
The following day I went out exploring, coming back to the dining hall that after dark. The man from Iraq approached me and told me that he had organized a discussion for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Because he had gone to the trouble, I attended the interview – but straight off informed my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was unable to accept the role.
Reflecting the city's spirit – a place where opportunities abound – she declared: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.
I held that position for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I was granted free tuition at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to complete a graduate degree in global studies.
I lost touch with him and I can't recall his full name, but his remarkable generosity transformed my future in multiple respects. I didn't possess the confidence or nerve to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. And, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.
Perhaps most importantly, that role at the university paved the way for a job in Zurich 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 changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.
Can you recall the Most Generous Act a Someone You Didn't Know Has Shown for You?
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