In the closing decade of the 80s, I was embarking on a low-cost journey to Europe with a travel partner. Since my companion was considering starting a postgraduate program in New York, we had planned a fortnight visit there en route to London.
We reached the graduate housing, a sizeable multi-story edifice on the Upper West Side called International House. Once we unpacked, we went directly to the dining hall, where we picked up meals, sat down, and started talking to fellow residents.
Adjacent to my seat was an Iraqi man pursuing an engineering degree at a prestigious New York university. He wanted to know what I my profession was, and I shared that I had recently completed my studies with a scientific background and had been working on studies with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – close to the engineering faculty, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I should apply for a role with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was soon departing to Europe and, additionally, I lacked a US visa.
The next day I went out exploring, returning to the canteen that after dark. The man from Iraq walked over to me and let me know that he had arranged an interview for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Because 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 unable to accept the role.
In typical New York fashion – a place where anything feels possible – she declared: “That can be arranged. How soon can you begin?” I never got on that flight to London.
I held that position for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I got free tuition at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a graduate degree in global studies.
I lost touch with him and I can't recall his name, but his incredible act of kindness transformed my future in multiple respects. I lacked the courage or self-assurance to reach out at an prestigious college and request employment. Additionally, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that educational benefit.
Perhaps most importantly, that role at the university led me to a role in Europe where I encountered my handsome spouse from France, with whom I currently share a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That kind stranger redirected my path in life, and I’m always appreciative.
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