In the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a backpacking trip to Europe with a companion. Because my companion was considering starting a postgraduate program in NYC, we had arranged a 14-day stopover there before heading to London.
We arrived at the student accommodation, a big 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side known as International House. After dropping our bags, we went directly to the cafeteria, where we grabbed food, took a seat, and started talking to other diners.
Beside me was an individual of Iraqi origin enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He asked me what I did for a living, and I shared that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been working on studies involving microscopic analysis.
He mentioned that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I ought to seek a position with them. I dismissed the idea, explaining that I was soon departing to Europe and, even more importantly, I lacked a US visa.
A day later I went out exploring, coming back to the dining hall that night. The Iraqi student walked over to me and told me that he had arranged an interview for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Since he had taken the effort, I attended the interview – but straight off informed my interviewer that I was without a work permit, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
In typical New York fashion – a place where opportunities abound – she declared: “That can be arranged. How soon can you begin?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for 36 months. An advantage of the role was that I also received complimentary education at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to finish a postgrad program in international relations.
I lost touch with him and I can't recall his full name, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in numerous aspects. I didn't possess the courage or nerve to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Additionally, I had always wanted to pursue education overseas, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.
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 am raising a family of four kids. It was a total sliding doors moment. That benevolent individual set me on a different course in life, and I’m forever grateful.
Can you recall the Most Generous Act a Unknown Person Has Shown for You?
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