The Surgeon’s Attitude and a New Definition of the Good Person 

 

Summary:  Most people seem to have a static definition of what it means to be a good person. A higher, more dynamic standard might produce more engagement and zeal, saving more lives and alleviating much more suffering.  The "Surgeons Attitude" is a new take on what it means to be a good person.

 

The Surgeon’s Attitude


Imagine that a surgeon is taught some improved medical procedure that will save many more lives. Now suppose that at the end of the training the surgeon says: “Even though I understand why these new procedures are more effective, I’m more comfortable with the old way of operating. Besides, I enjoy doing things the old way—it’s become my style!” Obviously, this would be an unprofessional attitude for the surgeon to take. In fact, it might even cause him to lose his license if a patient died. But while such an attitude is unthinkable in a surgeon, it is quite common in people who decide to do good. Most people prefer to do a good deed that they are comfortable with, rather than learn to do an unfamiliar yet strategic action that can produce more good.

Now imagine that some people take the attitude of surgeons. They would then ask themselves and each other, what the best, most loving actions would be. With mutual support, reflection, study and practice, they would choose actions that alleviate great suffering and save lives rather than other good actions. While medical surgeons take about eight years to learn to save lives, people who adopt a surgeon’s attitude can begin to save lives and reduce suffering in a matter of months, not years.

Taking a surgeon’s attitude means thinking strategically.  It also means regular action and regular study—ongoing learning to do more good. Since most people who do good don’t have a surgeon’s attitude, those who wanted to practice and maintain this attitude should probably join a group of others who wished to practice this attitude. Regular ongoing support, even if it with one other person by phone, is probably essential to optimum action.

The Surgeon’s Attitude is to have the seriousness and focus of surgeons who know that lives depend on the quality of their work. Perhaps there are five parts of the attitude:

a. Commitment to the best methods. A surgeon would never be considered competent if he or she used less than the best methods.

b. Passion. Good surgeons are not totally detached and cold. The spirit of the Surgeon’s Attitude is to “Act as if your child’s life was on the line, and not someone else’s.—your Molly, your Jason, your Kizito, your Prajhi, your Ling. Act as if you can see their faces.”

c. Reasonable stretches. We make reasonable stretches, not “kamikaze” stretches. “Make reasonable stretches” is a useful slogan to bear in mind. Do your level best.

d. Conscious effort. We ask for conscious effort for five hours per week, but we expect that the spirit of doing the best, most loving things will pervade the rest of your life.

e. Commitment to ongoing learning. Just as a medical surgeon must keep learning, we need to keep learning because our global and personal situations keep changing.

 

Are You a Good Person?

I think that if most people were asked for an informal definition of what a good person was, they would say that a good person regularly did good deeds – actions to help others – and/or  was kind and considerate. But I think that many people who do good were brought up that way by their parents, (with some help from their ministers and teachers.)  I also think that many kind people were just born with a gentler disposition.

My definition of a good person is someone who is willing to learn how to do more good. According to this definition, people who are not interested in learning how to do more good would not be considered good people, no matter how much good they currently do.

I defend my definition by saying that people who are too proud of their efforts or methods, or too caught up in their projects, are like surgeons who are not interested in the best, most up-to-date techniques. 

 

Two Criticisms  

(1) Someone may want to dismiss the Surgeon’s Attitude as an idea that’s already more or less contained in the phrase “best practices.”  Someone who is asking or seeking the current best practices probably is already using the Surgeon’s Attitude, but the Surgeon’s Attitude seems to be much more — an ethos, an attitude toward life and toward others.

(2)  Someone might want to dismiss the Surgeon’s Attitude, saying that the Christian language of “loving with all your heart, mind and strength” is stronger, better and more forceful. That may be true, and so that Christian appeal might produce something equivalent to the Surgeon’s Attitude. Over time, however, any formulation of words gradually loses its power through repetition. So Christians and others might see the Surgeon’s Attitude as a fresh formulation, one that might produce renewed zeal in some people. It’s also a nonreligious formula, and so it may inspire many people who would reject religious language.

 

 

Status: About 200 pages of stories and essays about doing good have been written.


Plans and Needs: These stories and essays could be collected in a book about goodness, perhaps to be called The Diamond of Intricate Goodness.


Potential Impact: More good would be done. Much more suffering would be alleviated.

   

“Past a certain point, loving is a learning experience, and learning is a loving experience.” 
                                                                                                — Tim Cimino