The Man Scout: ‘Growth, decay then transformation.’ The end of one journey and the beginning of another

By Chris Cole
Special to NKyTribune


We’ve come to a fork in the road. Twenty-two weeks ago, I set out to change not just what I know about the world around me, but who I am as a person. My goal was to become a Man Scout, skilled in the art and science of life-craft.

Over these past 22 weeks, I’ve learned a lot. I can now catch a (small) fish; tie several different knots depending on the occasion; make fire using a flint stone (and prevent the fire from spreading wild); forge a (fairly ugly) blade; navigate using a compass or even the night sky; and offer basic first aid in an emergency.

Making my way through my trusty Boy Scouts Handbook, I also learned a lot about community, friendship and citizenship. But the big question is – did I change into a Man Scout?

With The Man Scout coming to an end, Chris and his wife Megan will continue to put their new skills to good use as they continue to explore the world around them.

Whenever I think of change, I can’t help but recall one of the opening scenes of my all-time favorite television series, Breaking Bad. High school chemistry teacher Walter White is explaining to an obviously bored class of seniors the underpinnings of chemistry as “the study of change.”

Walt turns on his Bunsen burner, shooting fire two feet into the air. He uses the flame to illustrate his point. “Electrons – they change their energy levels.” He sprays colored liquids into the flame and it changes, first to green and then red. “Molecules change their bonds.” He brings his hands together, almost as if in prayer. “Elements, they combine and change into compounds.”

And that’s when you realize Walt is talking more to himself than his students. He’s giving himself a pep talk. Clearly dissatisfied with the life he’s chosen, or more accurately, the life that has chosen him, Walt is reminding himself that change is not only possible, but inevitable. He’s going to change, that is a given. The question is, how will he change?

“Well that’s…that’s all of life, right?” he continues. “It’s the constant. It’s the cycle. It’s solution, dissolution. Over and over and over. It is growth, then decay, then transformation.”

I’ve watched through that series a few times now, and I am always fascinated by that opening scene. It sets the framework for the entire show – growth, decay then transformation.

I’ve spent 22 weeks learning some of the skills that I wish I had picked up when I was a boy. But learning them at age 44 isn’t the same as learning them as a 10-year-old. Most of these skills take a lifetime to become natural. You can’t just watch a few YouTube videos and suddenly be Bear Grylls.

And that, my friends, brings us to our fork in the road.

This is my final column in the Man Scout series, and I now have a choice to make. I can walk away from this column proud that I did what I set out to do – learn some basic life skills and tell some (hopefully) entertaining stories along the way about how I became a Weren’t No Boy Scout in the first place.

To be perfectly honest, there is something appealing about this option. I’ve spent hours and hours reading through a handbook that’s decades older than I am to learn skills that have intimidated me my entire life. It would be kind of nice to dust myself off, take a bow and disappear into obscurity, knowing I no longer have an audience to hold me accountable.

In an opening scene of the hit television show Breaking Bad, high school teacher Walter White describes chemistry as “the study of change.” He tells his class that all of life is change – growth, decay then transformation. The Man Scout has been a study of the same theme.

But then what would have been the point of all of it? I started this journey because I wanted to change, not because I thought it would make for an entertaining read.

So, like Walter White, I must now continue to author my own change. I don’t expect to ever become Bear Grylls (or Walter’s alter-ego, Heisenberg, for that matter). I probably started this journey far too late to ever be confused with someone who grew up in the Boy Scouts.

But there is one lesson that I have learned from this experience that is far more important than catching a fish or starting a fire, and that is this: I am capable of doing any of the things that have always intimidated me.

I’ve written about the Boy Scout oath, motto, law and slogan. I’ll wrap up this column with a thought on what I believe underpins each of those.

We’re all changing all the time. Growth, decay then transformation. That’s all of life, right?

We learn new skills so that we can become more useful to others and self-sufficient. We study history so that we can better understand the world around us and give our lives more meaning. We work hard to care more for our family, friends and community so that we can make the world just a little bit better for those around us.

We are indeed capable of doing the things that have always intimidated us, and that includes change. Thanks for reading, and please remember: Do a Good Turn Daily.

Chris Cole is Director of Enterprise Communications at Sanitation District No. 1 and a deacon at Plum Creek Christian Church in Butler. He lives in Highland Heights with his wife, Megan. The Man Scout chronicles Cole’s journey to acquiring some of the skills of the head, the heart and the hand he failed to learn as a child of the 1980s growing up in Newport. His field guide: a 1952 Boy Scouts Handbook he found on eBay.