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Joshua L. Costa

T. L. Pagaard

English 120/1276

11 October 2010

My Compass

The humid hot air was stale around us. The countless mass of trees formed an

impenetrable canopy over us. Mosquitoes and their incessant buzzing berated any patch of skin

left uncovered. We trudged along through the dense underbrush searching for a sign, any sign,

that a trail had once cut through this fortress of mother nature. Without a compass we wouldn’t

have been able to determine left from right and would still be hacking and slashing through those

thorny bushes to this very day. A voice called out from ahead, it was Fred Barreiros the captain

of our dreary worn out band of adventurers. “A clearing! Just push through you've only got fifty

feet or so until we're free of it!” We found the the large meadow in full summer's bloom, wild

flowers and poison ivy chest high. Could this be an improvement to the thorny thick bushes we

just cut through? One of my companions, Joey, would later find out it most certainly was not.

He laid in bed for the next week with his face and arms swollen. He most closely resembled a

marshmallow; the allergic reaction from poison ivy getting the best of him. Joey would

eventually recover from this plump white confectionery like ailment with no permanent damage,

aside from new nick name. Mother nature claimed one casualty in the battle for dominance over

that plot of land. But in the end she was no match for the vigor and tenacity that a Boy Scout

troop lead by Mr. Barreiros was capable of. My fellow scouts and I cut a new nature trail

through this temperate jungle of Massachusetts. We are victorious! The Children's Museum can

now lead tours through the woods and show eager young minds the beauty of mother nature
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without turning them into marshmallows.

Fred Barreiros was the most important father figure in my life. Growing up in

Massachusetts I was the first in my family to be born in America. Life wasn't easy for my

parents, and when I was still a young boy my parents divorced. I lived with my mother and

sister without a father figure until I was a teenager. That was until my best friend Kevin

encouraged me to joined the Boy Scouts. There I meet his father and Boy Scout leader Mr.

Barreiros. My world expanded around me with the help of Mr. Barreiors and the Boy Scouts.

Between the weekly meeting and the monthly camping trips Mr. Barreiros taught me endless

tidbits of information about the natural world around me. Some lessons required a more hands

on approach to get a complete understanding as was the case with the wonderful little nature trail

behind the Children's Museum. Mr. Barreiros has set an example for me to emulate that dictates

the direction my moral compass points.

The most profound events in an individuals life dictate the direction in which their moral

compass will point. Mr. Barreiros is the reason why I joined the military, and my experiences as

a United States Marine have played an important role in defining my morality. Morality is not

something you can teach in a classroom. Mr. Barreiros's clear understanding of his morals

comes from his military service. Four years of working in the top secret satellite communication

division of the United States Air Force provided him with many opportunities to help him

solidify his morals. His military service affected his life greatly with real skills like leadership,

integrity, and physical fitness, but more importantly it gave him unique experiences to help him

formulate the moral code he will follow for the rest of his life. An understanding of the exact

point a person acquires their morality is impossible to decipher by an outsider like myself. It is

only truly understood by the person experiencing it first had, and even then it isn’t fully realized
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until much later in life. It became clear to me as I grew up that every person I came across that

had military experience was different; they were the people who stood out in my life as role

models. I felt like they improved my life but it couldn't be quantified. Mr. Barreiros was the

strongest example of this. I trusted my feelings and with the image of Mr. Barreiros in my mind

I joined the United States Marine Corps in the summer of 2002. As a Marine would explain it, I

was born on Paris Island into a wonderful family of hard charging devil-dogs. As a Marine my

birth date is November 10, 1775. The obvious inconstancy of being born in the summer with a

birth date in November is one that only a Marine could understand.

My gut feelings that military service had helped form Mr. Barreiros's morality were

correct. Lessons of morality were tested everyday in the Marine Corps from the small ones like

cleaning the soap scum off the shower walls before a room inspection or just spreading a thin

coat of baby oil on the wall to give it a smooth and shinny appearance to other tests in morality

with more serious consequences. In one such incident in the streets surrounding Fallujah, Iraq a

group of men begin shooting at me and my fellow Marines from within a crowd of innocent

civilians. They hide amongst the crowd of women an children while my brothers lie bleeding

beside me. If I shoot back and hit a child will I be able to live with myself? Who's fault is it? Is

it theirs for choosing to shoot from within the crowd or mine for choosing to protect my life and

the lives of my brothers beside me? Who's life is more important the innocent child's or my

fellow Marines? The debate that these questions require is beyond the scope of this essay but

this fact is clear: my experiences as a Marine has determined the direction my moral compass

points.

Mr. Barreiros influence on me to join the military wasn't the only thing that affected my

moral compass. Mr. Barreiros placed the well being of the people around him above his own
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personal desires. One afternoon my friend Kevin and I poked around Mr. Barreiros's tool shed.

We found an old rusty lawnmower that had fallen into disrepair. Kevin and I sharpened the

blade, adjusted the cables, and oiled the wheels. But no matter how many times we pulled that

cord to start the engine we couldn't get the lawnmower to run. Mr. Barreiros stopped what he

was doing in the garden to help us fix the lawnmower. After a few minutes he had the engine

running smoothly. He showed us what had gone wrong and some other things to look for when

trying to fix an engine. Mr. Barreiros didn't get as much done in the garden as he would have

liked, but he did accomplish to spark my interest in mechanical systems. He sparked an interest

that lead me to work as a mechanic on the most technologically advanced ground tactical vehicle

in the United States Marine Corps arsenal, the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, currently still in

its prototype phase. That interest in mechanical systems continues to this day as I study to be a

mechanical engineer. A seemingly small gesture by Mr. Barreiros at time made a huge impact on

my life.

Mr. Barreiros showed me first hand how much you can influence a person's life by taking

a small amount of time out of your day the help them out. The greatest reward in my life is

making a difference is someone else's. I have never quite understood why I value my family so

much until I reflected on the values Mr. Barreiros instilled in me. My wife has medical

conditions that need attention. My daughter is always exploring something that deserves my

presence; and there is always some one in the family that could use my expertise in fixing things

or giving advice. Having fun doing the things I like to do such as fishing, hiking, shooting, or

any of my other hobbies pales in comparison to the satisfaction I get from helping my wife work

through her medical challenges. Spending time on my hobbies cannot compare to the joy I get

from seeing my daughter experience a new sensation or learn a new skill with my help. Mr.
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Barreiros showed me how valuable helping people can be.

Just as a compass kept me from getting lost in the woods behind the Children's museum,

my moral compass has kept me from getting lost in life. With the help of Mr. Barreiros my moral

compass is pointing me in the right direction. Mr. Barreiros showed me what kind of a man I

could grow up to be with the training and experience gained from enlisting in the military.

Neither he nor I realized at the time how much influence working on that lawnmower would

have on the rest of my life; and how effectively his actions formed my morality. These examples

are only the most influential ones Mr. Barreiros had on my morality. Booker T. Washington once

said, “ If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” Mr. Barreiros lifted me up out of a

life of moral incompetence. For this reason I bestow upon him the honor being the most

influential person in my life.