Why Compass Point? Part 2

We wrote about how we found our name in an earlier blog (Why Compass Point), which was only one perpsective. It’s time to share the other side of our story.

When we came up with the name Compass Point Coffee, our intent was to put out a message of finding your bearing.  As coffee is a morning ritual and often as well as a midday reset, when you’re finding your bearing in an unfamiliar area, it’s based on finding an azimuth, or compass point to begin your journey and when you’re starting a new leg of your journey.  The 4 business partners had just come out of some family struggles with health and we wanted to capture that as the guiding principle of our brand message.  

The knowledge of using a compass to find your location came from my experience as a Ranger qualified Army officer whose one Jedi skill was land navigation.  It also played off my family motto of “Be Kind to Your Fellow Traveler”.  This goes back to something that occurred in 1989, but in all actuality started when I was a young child.

My parents were very young when they had me.  My father wasn’t ready for the responsibility of parenting, so his father helped raise me.  “Pappy” Hodos would take care of my mother and my two younger brothers, he’d bring us groceries, treats, and toys with the explanation that he got a good deal from a “friend” so that my mother wouldn’t feel awful.  Pappy would take me out to “bum around” and we’d go shopping and run errands and there was always a toy, model, or ice cream and he showed my love that my father couldn’t.  Unconditionally.  

Pappy was a WWII paratrooper and combat medic. He told me stories of his service and we’d listen to Army songs on his record player.  He had been wounded, shot in the leg, while parachuting into Operation Varsity, the last combat jump in the European Theater in WWII in the closing weeks of the war and he never fully

recovered.  Additionally, he was always a bit chunky and enjoyed his sweets which led to Type 2 diabetes.  He died at the early age of 59 when I was 10 years old.  He was my best friend.  I was devastated.

Not long after his death, I began having dreams of him where I would meet him at a building in Sharpsburg on Main Street and we would spend the day bumming around.  Shoes, stopping for candy, etc.  At the end of the day, we would go back to the building where he would say goodbye.  I would wake up crying into the pillow as I’d been hugging him and begging him not to go back.  I’ll never forget the kind look of his blue eyes and he would tell me, “I’ll be back again”.  And he never failed in that promise.  

Those dreams would continue on a yearly basis through my childhood, filled with divorce, bullies, poor grades and no direction.  Towards the end of my senior year, at the age of 17, I joined the Army National Guard, went to basic training, and had the dream of one day becoming someone of whom he would be proud.  I found my purpose and worth in the Army.  I later joined a unit and was selected to attend US Army Airborne school.  At the same time, I was awarded an ROTC scholarship which would pay my last 2 years of school and upon graduation, I would become a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army.  

Airborne school was nowhere near as hard as it was for my grandfather who was a no kidding paratrooper.  Physically it was less than challenging for me as I went there in extraordinary shape.  But, jumping out of a perfectly good airplane at 1,250 feet above ground level, is still a daunting task and as I loaded into the plane, I was the most terrified I had been to that point in my life.  I was certain that I would be that guy whose chute didn’t work and I would go plummeting to my death.  As I was in the plane and I had the steely taste of fear in my mouth, I heard “The Ballad of the Green Berets” come on in my head.  I thought that was extremely cheesy, but hey, it made me think that it might turn out ok, and if nothing else, I wasn’t going to punk out.  Let the cards fall and deal with it.  I had the luck of being the first one out the door and survived. 

The next day after I completed 2 more jumps, I received a letter from my father.  We had an estranged relationship, but it was good to get a letter from him, especially on my 21st birthday.  In the letter my father said “you know how proud Pappy would be of you.  You know his favorite song was always The Ballad of the Green Berets…..”pin silver wings, upon my chest” and now you’ll have those silver wings too.  

A few weeks later, I dreamt that I was in the plane ready to jump and next to me was my grandfather in his WWII gear.  “Come on son, let’s go”.  We jumped out of the plane when all of the sudden, we were suspended in space.  He had changed into white flowing robes.  “Pappy, where are you? Are you in Heaven?”

“Son, it’s not quite like you think.  I’m in a very good place.  I know that you worry about religion and doing the right thing, but here’s what you need to know.  Religion won’t necessarily get you to where I am.  What will is living by the principles which Jesus demonstrated and that path will lead you hear.  Remember to always be kind to your fellow traveler and you will make it to where I am, and it’s beautiful. And with that son, it’s time for me to go.  I won’t be back, but you will be fine, and we’ll meet again someday.”

That was the last dream I’ve ever had of him in that context.

In the complex world in which we live, one principle for which we can never get enough of is empathy.  “Be kind to your fellow traveler.”  It’s a message he wanted me to have, and I know he would want me to share it.  So, we are.  We’re putting that message out as part of our mission and hope that it resonates with you as it does with us.  There’s more to this story and message so stay tuned……