Being opportunistic

The term opportunistic is a funny one. A question I often ask myself while writing or interpreting for someone is, is this a positive term, or a negative one? Being opportunistic is often seen as a negative thing. When I look it up in the dictionary, there's a phrase that sticks out in the definition: "... often unethically...." So being opportunistic can be bad. An opportunistic infection is one which takes advantage of your already lowered immune system. An opportunistic person might take advantage of your lowered defenses when emotional and convince you to invest in a service which you don't need.

But what about ethical opportunism? 

Last month we had a week-long city-wide shut down. Due to the government announcing a significant rise in fuel prices, (33% for gas and 46% for diesel), the entire public transit system which is comprised of shared taxis and buses shut down completely, and within a day all markets and most shops had joined the protest. It was a quiet week overall - the few times we went out, there were no traffic jams, not much open, and we could transit town quite easily, other than navigating around the various potholes in the streets. 

Opportunistic orange picking 

But it turns out that the government had some ethical opportunists at work also, because by the time things opened up, I had another pleasant surprise in driving through the city -- the potholes were all filled! Yes, the city took advantage of there being very few cars on the road and filled the numerous potholes which had dotted the city.

Of course, after a couple of heavy rains, many of the holes have reopened, but I still smile when driving through certain neighborhoods which had been littered with pothole obstacle courses and now are smooth driving. It's a small blessing, but a blessing nonetheless. 

Maybe being opportunistic can be ethical after all. Or we need another term?