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During the closing decade of the 80s, I set out on a low-cost journey to the European continent with a friend. Because my companion was considering pursuing a master’s degree in the Big Apple, we had planned a 14-day stopover there before heading to London.

We arrived at the graduate housing, a sizeable multi-story edifice on the Upper West Side called International House. After dropping our bags, we went directly to the canteen, where we grabbed food, found a table, and engaged in conversation with people eating there.

Sitting next to me was an Iraqi man studying engineering at Columbia University. He asked me what I did, and I shared that I had just graduated with a degree in science and had been conducting research involving microscopic analysis.

He mentioned that there was an electron microscope unit at the university – close to the engineering faculty, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I ought to seek a role with them. I laughed it off, telling him that I was soon departing to Europe and, even more importantly, I didn’t have a US visa.

The following day I went out exploring, returning to the canteen that night. 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. Because he had taken the effort, I attended the interview – but right away told my interviewer that I was without a work permit, so I was unable to accept the role.

In typical New York fashion – a place where everything seems achievable – she responded: “That can be arranged. When can you start?” I missed my plane to London.

I was employed there for 36 months. An advantage of the role was that I was granted no-cost classes at Columbia, and I took advantage to earn a postgrad program in international relations.

I never saw that student again and I am unaware of his identity, but his remarkable generosity changed my life in multiple respects. I would never have had the courage or self-assurance to approach someone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Additionally, I had consistently hoped to study abroad, but lacked the financial means without that tuition waiver.

Perhaps most importantly, that role at the university resulted in a job in Zurich where I met 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 forever grateful.

Can you recall the Most Generous Act a Stranger Has Shown for You?

From cheering you up to transforming your future, we are interested in chance encounters that have stuck with you.

We invite you to tell us if you are an adult, without revealing your identity if you choose. What you share are protected, and are solely for the aim of this article.