The Kindness of People We Don't Know: How a Person I Had Just Met Supported Me Obtain the Role That Altered My Path

During the closing decade of the 80s, I was beginning a low-cost journey to the European continent with a friend. Since my friend was considering starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had planned a 14-day stopover there en route to London.

We reached the graduate housing, a sizeable ten-floor structure on the Upper West Side named International House. Once we unpacked, we headed straight to the dining hall, where we grabbed food, took a seat, and engaged in conversation with people eating there.

Sitting next to me was an gentleman from Iraq enrolled in an engineering program at an Ivy League institution. He wanted to know what I my profession was, and I told him that I had just graduated with a degree in science and had been performing experiments with electron microscopy.

He pointed out that there was an research lab at Columbia University – close to the engineering faculty, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I ought to seek a job with them. I laughed it off, explaining that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.

The following day I toured the city, coming back to the dining hall that after dark. The man from Iraq approached me and informed me that he had organized a discussion for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Given that he had made the arrangement, I went to the meeting – but straight off explained to my interviewer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was probably wasting her time.

In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where everything seems achievable – she said: “We can make that happen. What's your start date?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.

I held that position for three years. One of the benefits was that I was granted complimentary education at Columbia, and I took advantage to earn a master’s of international affairs.

I lost touch with him and I am unaware of his name, but his incredible act of kindness transformed my future in so many ways. I didn't possess the confidence or self-belief to approach someone at an prestigious college and ask for a job. Moreover, I had always wanted to take classes in another country, but could never have afforded it without that educational benefit.

Perhaps most importantly, that gig at Columbia led me to a role in Europe where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have four wonderful sons and daughters. This was a pivotal life event. That helpful person changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.

Can you recall the Kindest Gesture a Unknown Person Has Ever Done for You?

Whether it's cheering you up to altering your path, we are interested in chance encounters that have stuck with you.

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