A Positive Deviant

These two words are interesting together, aren’t they? They sound rather British, the kind of words we might hear Queen Elizabeth II use to describe a certain grandson named Harry. Oxford’s Shorter Dictionary defines “deviant” as “a person or thing which deviates from the normal,” and its usage tends to apply to social or sexual standards of behavior and bears negative connotations.

Yet, in the case of Atan Gawande’s book, “Better,” the idea of being a “positive deviant” is simply to do better according to principles of diligence, moral clarity (doing right), and ingenuity. Gawande is a general surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston with a specialty for endocrinology. He writes from the perspective of a surgeon on this theme of “better,” exploring broad horizons of medicine from poor villages in India, to military medical tents on the front lines of Middle East, to cystic fibrosis centers in the Mid-west. He finds people in all sorts of circumstances committing themselves to doing the best they can with what they have and better.

I like Gawande as a writer. His attention to medical detail can make you wince if you don’t care for a lot of the technicalities, but he is gifted as a writer, and he kept me engaged in the stories told so that I might see the lessons learned. The book itself followed a trail of exploratory thinking and there were no bullet points or neat patterns, but a sort of meandering look-here-and-there investigation.

His last chapter is his application of the case studies he has walked you through, and I thought it worth sharing those.

He suggests five ways to become “better,” to be a “positive deviant.” The first is to “ask an unscripted question.” His is the medical profession. It is completely normal to walk in, ask what’s wrong, what hurts, and prescribe some kind of treatment plan. Yet, by inserting an unscripted question, such as “have you read anything interesting lately?” you attempt to make a difference in the life of a person where others probably don’t. Secondly, don’t complain. If you ever are tempted to do so, watch this, (my suggestion not his). Thirdly, count something. I used to count the number of days I had lived, I’ve fallen out of the habit, but perhaps I should do so again. The idea here however is to seek out data, information, in places where others maybe are not looking, in order do better. It’s interesting to note that Gawande does not feel that the need for “bench science,” or further research, is as important as doing better with what we know already.* Fourth, Gawande instructs readers to write something, as it helps us to take what’s in our head and improve our ability to communicate. And fifthly, he encourages us to change, to keep growing, to keep getting better.

Though he writes from a secular perspective, Gawande’s truths are not his own, they are divine. A few trips through Proverbs and you can see the teachings of diligence, the importance of doing right, and creation itself reveals the Creator’s ingenuity. And so, with God’s leading, I will take the lesson to heart, and do “better.”

*(If you were to take the time to read another of his books, “The Checklist Manifesto,” the data offered might help you’d become a ritual hand-washer.)