According to the CBS News report, his salary for running the worlds 10th largest airline: not millions, but one year as low as $90,000. When he was forced to cut salaries for everyone else, he also cut his own.

How many CEOs out there were doing that in the recent crisis? Here is one who was leading by example. I am one who not only believe in walking the talk but also in being the change I want to see in the world; these were exactly what I could relate to immediately when I first saw the video. Haruka Nishimatsu is truly one who can inspire his team and I believe that with him heading Japan Airline, the company would continue to fly through the turbulence ahead.

How many of us had been through similar situation like this? How did you handle it? Were you as upset and disturbed too? I believe that most of us had been through similar situation at one point or another. As much as we do not want to, there will be times when the words of others will make us doubt ourselves; doubting if we can really achieve what we set in our mind to achieve, doubting if we are good enough, and to the extend of believing in what the others are saying.

The night when she was relating her experience with me, she asked me to share my feeling about the incidence she had that day. I told her, “I have just one thing to share with her.” I heard Abraham Lincoln speaking to me and I shared one of his many quotations with her. “I am not bothered by what others say about me as long as I know they do not speak the truth of me.”

Such simple truth and yet it could be hard to grasp at time. I have shared this quotation with family and friends who were caught in similar situation like the girl countless times. Every time I shared it, it also served as a gentle reminder to myself. We cannot always control what others are saying but we can always control or rather choose how we want to feel or react to what others are saying. They have the right to speak their mind but we have every reason to guard our mind against any negativity. The mind is our single most valuable asset. Empowering ourselves, especially our mind is very important.

You may ask me, “What if they are speaking the truth of me?” I would be glad if others point out my ‘blind spots.’ It would give me an opportunity to reflect upon them and to change if there is a need to. This gives us a chance to improve ourselves and to be a better being.

In a world where the only constant is change, we have always been talking about changing the world and people around us. However, not all have realised that for change to take place, they must first change themselves. Do not seek without what we can find within. If we start out with the perception to change the world, then we would fail badly. But if we start by changing ourselves, the change in the world would come naturally and inevitable.

In the short film which I am sharing with you, the boy may not know the above quotation by Gandhi or wouldn’t know that he was applying what Gandhi mentioned about being the change. It was a natural instinct that we often see in children; the ability to see things in a simple manner. We adults often complicate things while trying to come out with the best solution. He started out to be the change and in the process, he inspired others to follow suit.

Starting to be the change we want to see in the world, we would also inspire change in the world which comes from within each individual. Children are our best hope of positively influencing the world to love and care for each other. To put aside differences and to focus on the similarities. Before that, we are still the prime influencing force affecting not only our children but the future of the world that they will be living in.