I'm going to make up a word now, ok?

You ready? Here goes:

eukairopia

pronunciation: yoo-kahee-ro'-pee-ah

As you might guess, I formed it from Greek..

eukairia ("opportunity") + ops ("eye")

Like its cousin myopia, eukairopia is a vision condition, but it is not a condition of the eyes. It is a condition of the mind that affects the processing of information received through the eyes (and other senses as well, but we may say primarily the eyes).

To describe it most simply, eukairopia causes a person to see opportunity not seen by most people, by normal people, by the average person. It is a condition that can develop over time if someone forms the habit of looking for opportunity; but it can also develop spontaneously as an apparent predisposition of character. In its most extreme form, it causes the sufferer to see opportunity everywhere, in every situation.

And even people who do not suffer sustained eukairopia may experience moments of it, when specific circumstances create a startlingly obvious opportunity.

I consider myself eukairopic, and work at becoming more so, being fond of asking what I call the GQC, or the Great Question of Capitalism: "Where's the opportunity?"

This separates me from many of my neighbors, who seem to view most things primarily in terms of potential threats or dangers. I acknowledge the value of being aware of threats or dangers; but I fear that sometimes people with kakopia (yep, I just made that up, too - kakos ("evil") + ops ("eye")) invent threats that aren't there, or allow real threats to blind them to real opportunities.

Eukairopia is not to be confused with being a Pollyanna - it does not say, "Everything is going to be fine" all the time. It says, "Hm. What can we do in this situation to make things better somehow?" - or even asks, more directly and ham-handedly, "How can I make money here?"

The full-blown eukairopic, however, sees so much opportunity in the world that making money is only a small part of the spectrum. Opportunities to exercise power, to learn, to help others, to create...the list, in a world designed for abundance and inhabited by billions of brains, is endless.