On a recent trip to Washington, D.C. my family and I stayed at a hotel on the Gallaudet University campus.

Gallaudet University is a school for the deaf and hearing impaired.

Many of the deaf students work at the hotel, it helps them hone their life skills in a work environment. Every employee of the hotel used sign language to communicate. Even our shuttle driver, who was not hearing impaired, used a mix of verbal and sight based communication. It was an educational experience.

After sightseeing, while coming back to the campus for the evening, we encountered something confusing.

We could see the university’s football team practicing, and there was a man on the field with a huge drum. A drum so big you could crawl inside it. For a few moments, we were perplexed, then it “hit” me, I knew what was going on.

While the team was stretching, a coach would hit the drum, the players would feel the vibration and change their positions. After doing some research days later, I found out the team uses the drum to communicate during games as well. Since the players can’t respond to a voice command to start the play, a coach on the sideline hits the drum to initiate the snap of the ball.

The Gallaudet Bisons are the only hearing impaired college team in the country.

Similar to the sound waves felt in the chest of each football player, our actions influence the hearts of those around us. Like a stone tossed into a lake, what we do ripples beyond where we assume it will reach. What we do in life reverberates through the lives around us.

Many of us are in influential positions due to our careers or titles. But everyone has influence. And for all of us, how we live communicates more clearly than we realize.

In the normal life of just under 80 years, an average person will meet around 75,000 people in some capacity. I realize that sounds like a lot of people, but the research confirms these numbers. From family, close friends, acquaintances, doctors, mechanics, servers at restaurants, all the way down to the strangers you greet in a store or on the streets every day.

What that means is this, you could fill a football stadium with the people you will have at least some contact with in your life. Even if it’s just a kind word instead of ignoring them. Imagine standing in the middle of that stadium with a microphone and the capacity crowd goes silent, waiting for what you would say to them.

The reality is this, each of us has that opportunity over our lifetime.

So, encourage, uplift, inspire, educate, coach, lead, listen, speak, sing, write, paint, rescue, heal, counsel, and reach like you’re making an impact.

Because you are.

When you live by the beat of your own drum, the world can feel it.

-Tom Wise

*Photo credit, Yahoo Sports 2013