An Generosity of Unknown Individuals: The Way a Person I Had Just Met Helped Me Obtain the Position That Transformed My Existence

In the closing decade of the 80s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to Europe with a friend. Because my companion was exploring enrolling in graduate studies in the Big Apple, we had planned a 14-day stopover there en route to London.

We got to the graduate housing, a large 10-storey building on the Upper West Side named International House. After dropping our bags, we went directly to the cafeteria, where we got some food, found a table, and began chatting with other diners.

Beside me was an individual of Iraqi origin enrolled in an engineering program 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 science degree and had been conducting research with electron microscopy.

He mentioned that there was an research lab at the institution – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was how he knew about it. He recommended that I consider applying for a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was about to fly 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 after dark. The engineering student approached me and told me that he had set up a meeting for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Given that he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but straight off explained to my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was unable to accept the role.

In typical New York fashion – a city where everything seems achievable – she said: “That can be arranged. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.

I worked there for three years. One of the benefits was that I got complimentary education at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to earn a graduate degree in global studies.

I never saw that student again and I can't recall his identity, but his remarkable generosity changed my life in multiple respects. I didn't possess the courage or self-belief to contact anyone at an elite institution and ask for a job. Additionally, I had long dreamed to pursue education overseas, but could never have afforded it without that free tuition.

Critically, that role at the university resulted in a position in Switzerland where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I currently share a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That kind stranger set me on a different course in life, and I’m always appreciative.

Can you recall the Nicest Thing a Someone You Didn't Know Has Once Performed for You?

From brightening your mood to altering your path, we would love to know random meetings that have stuck with you.

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