Opportunism

There are generally two ways for one to be opportunistic. The first way is largely positive, and it is the approach of seizing chances when they are presented to this person. The positive connotation of an opportunist is someone who is proactive and ambitious, a real ‘go-getter’. The second sort of opportunism is viewed as negative. This is the approach of preying on the less fortunate or exploiting some weakness or flaw. This negative view of opportunism can often be described as selfish and sometimes immoral. The latest example I have seen where this negative view of opportunism can be clearly seen is with the case of shell getting permission to drill in the arctic since climate change has melted the ice. An oil company drilling in the arctic is an egregious form of opportunism, as they were a main contributor as to why they are even able to drill there in the first place; Shell seems to be taking a ‘by any means necessary’ approach to how they go about getting oil and therefore money, while in the mean time they seem to be metaphorically defiling ground zero for climate change with seemingly no remorse.

This begs the question of is what Shell is doing wrong. Is being opportunistic wrong? In the example of Shell’s drilling, I may feel that Shell is in the wrong and they shouldn’t drill, but someone high up at Shell must feel differently for them to give the OK for the drilling to begin. I think in the most general sense what separates opportunism that is good and opportunism that is whether or not there are victims. Everyone is inherently an opportunist, the difference between most peoples’ opportunism and a decision Shell’s opportunism is that when most people take advantage of an opportunity it doesn’t negatively affect people, or if it does it’s the case where it negatively affects the other people who were trying to take advantage of the same opportunity. In the case of Shell’s opportunism, it comes at the cost of every single person on the planet, as global warming, in one way or another, affects everyone. So when it comes down to it, the presence of victims is most relevant when considering whether an opportunity is worth seizing.

In the case of my own experience of someone not being opportunistic, my father’s kindness and generosity spring to mind. My father is a tinkerer, and loves to work on pretty much anything mechanical, as evidenced by his nine motorcycles and seven generators. And while the motorcycles don’t present my opportunistic moments, whenever the power goes out, the generators come out. My dad offers generators to anyone who needs one, free of charge. Not taking advantage of this opportunity to make some money might seem strange, but my dad wouldn’t have it any other way. As to why he does it, I feel this is a perfect example of a just being a ‘good citizen’, and just feeling like it’s the right thing to do. Also, relating it to what I had been talking about earlier about the two types of opportunism, if my dad did have people pay for the generators, I don’t think those people would feel like they were being victimized or taken advantage of, and would therefore be viewed as a positive form of opportunism.