Positive Deviance

Many of us witness or engage in deviant acts on a day to day basis, and many people have different definitions of what they would consider to be deviant behavior.  I believe that deviant behavior is anything that would have a negative outcome or that would hurt someone or something due to the act.  An example would be stealing or cheating because these acts either hurt the person you cheated off of or hurt the storeowner who worked hard to make their money.  Then again, some acts of deviance don't hurt people like consentual cheating because both people are doing a deviant act, but they don't realize that in the long run they are hurting one another.  There is also such a thing as positive deviance which is something that usually goes against a societal norm, but will in turn have a positive outcome.  I did an act of positive deviance on Monday when I went dress shopping with my friend.  We were in line to check out when I noticed that someone had left a huge wad of money sitting on the counter so I gave it to the cashier and asked if he saw anyone that had left it.  Most people would quitely take the money and put it in their wallet, but I knew that if I had lost my money, I would hope that someone would be kind enough to return it to me.  The man said the person in front of me had left it there and she was very thankful and admiring that I returned it to her and after she received it back, the cashier gave my friend a free dress bag that usually costs ten dollars because he thought my act was so kind.  Many people would consider this act deviant because they would just pocket the money and run, but I consider this positive deviance because since most people wouldn't return it, I did and it had a very positive outcome for many people.  I felt very good about myself after  because the lady and the cashier and people around me were sort of shocked that I returned the money so instantly probably because they thought I, or anyone would just take it.  But I was brought up with better morals and standards than that and I knew it was the right thing to do to return the money, even though many people in society would consider that deviant nowadays.  Overall, I felt very good about my act of positive deviance and I think it had a greater outcome on many people than I could've anticipated.