The airplane was late taking off. Before boarding our plane, the security checkpoint at the airport was packed with travelers who all seemly were running late. Everyone seemed to be in a foul mood.

No one was listening to the airline attendants as they gave the pre-flight safety speech. Some passengers in the rows in front of me were talking loudly on their cell phones, even though they were supposed to turn them off.

Passengers around them were complaining about the noise. Others near me were complaining about the delay of the flight. Still others had nothing good to say about the trivial aspects of their busy daily life.

Suddenly, a little head popped up a few rows in front of me. I found out later the little head belonged to William. He looked to be about three or four years old. He poked his head above the backrest and smiled mischievously at everyone behind him.

Someone must have made a funny face at him. William giggled and made a funny face back. The mood of the people in the rows behind him changed instantly.

The complaining stopped. The passengers around me started to smile and make pleasant conversation. They stopped summoning the airline attendant to our section of the plane to respond to their complaints.

William’s little head and funny face changed the sour disposition of the passengers who sat in the rows behind him. He had single handedly changed negativism to positivism.

It reminded me of a motivational speaker who had talked of a similar experience. He called it the “five rows of influence.” We may not be able to change the world by ourselves, but we can influence around us, those within our “five rows of influence.”

If one person positively influences the people within five rows and another within five rows of themselves, then slowly we can change the world from a negative place to one that is more positive.

When we stop asking what others can do for us and starting asking what we can do for others, then we can start down the road of making a positive change in the world.

William changed the mood of those around him. His five rows of influence didn’t change the world, but it did change the mood of those passengers. Hopefully, each of them went out and changed the mood of the five rows of influence they all encountered around them that day.

If so, William helped change the world, at least the world that was around him. It was a small thing from a small child, but a giant lesson to be learned by all of us.

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