The Compassion of Strangers: The Way a Man I Had Just Met Helped Me Land the Role That Transformed My Existence

During the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a low-cost journey to the European continent with a travel partner. Because my friend was exploring pursuing a master’s degree in NYC, we had booked a 14-day stopover there before heading to London.

We arrived at the student accommodation, a large ten-floor structure on the UWS named International House. Setting down our luggage, we made our way to the cafeteria, where we grabbed food, found a table, and engaged in conversation with people eating there.

Sitting next to me was an gentleman from Iraq studying engineering at a prestigious New York university. He inquired what I did, and I shared that I had newly finished with a degree in science and had been performing experiments with electron microscopy.

He pointed out that there was an research lab at the institution – close to the engineering faculty, which was how he knew about it. He recommended that I ought to seek a role with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, telling him that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.

The next day I ventured out, going back to the cafeteria that after dark. The engineering student came up to me and told 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 right away explained to my host that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.

In typical New York fashion – a city where anything feels possible – she said: “We'll handle it. What's your start date?” I never got on that flight to London.

I was employed there for 36 months. A perk of the job was that I was granted free tuition at Columbia, and I seized the chance to finish a master’s of international affairs.

I never saw that student again and I don’t even know his identity, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in so many ways. I would never have had the confidence or nerve to reach out at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Moreover, I had consistently hoped to take classes in another country, but could never have afforded it without that educational benefit.

Perhaps most importantly, that gig at Columbia resulted in a job in Zurich where I met my wonderful partner, with whom I currently share four amazing children. This was a pivotal life event. That kind stranger changed my trajectory in life, and I’m eternally thankful.

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