In the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a backpacking trip to the European continent with a travel partner. Because my friend was considering starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had arranged a two-week stay there en route to London.
We arrived at the graduate housing, a large 10-storey building on the UWS known as International House. After dropping our bags, we headed straight to the canteen, where we grabbed food, found a table, and engaged in conversation with people eating there.
Beside me was an gentleman from Iraq enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He asked me what I did, and I shared that I had newly finished with a scientific background and had been working on studies with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – adjacent to the engineering department, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I ought to seek a job with them. I dismissed the idea, saying that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.
A day later I went out exploring, returning to the canteen that evening. The engineering student approached me and informed me that he had set up a meeting for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Since he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but straight off informed my host that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.
As is common in NYC – a place where anything feels possible – she declared: “That can be arranged. When can you start?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I held that position for a trio of years. An advantage of the role was that I also received complimentary education at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to earn a master’s of international affairs.
I lost touch with him and I am unaware of his name, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in so many ways. I didn't possess the courage or self-belief to reach out at an elite institution and ask for a job. Moreover, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but could never have afforded it without that tuition waiver.
What's more, that gig at Columbia resulted in a role in Europe where I met my handsome spouse from France, with whom I am raising four wonderful sons and daughters. It was a total sliding doors moment. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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