BEING OPPORTUNISTIC - TAKING ADVANTAGE OF SITUATIONS NOT PEOPLE
They say that a fool and his money are soon parted...
This is often the case. Far too often in this world selfishness and greed consume people until others are simply seen as opportunities to be taken advantage of. If you've ever been taken advantage of, then you know the feeling. It's a very common problem the world over these days.
Personally, I'm done with taking advantage of people. I love being opportunistic and seeing value where others don't, but I'm not going to try to talk someone out of something that they feel is valuable. Sure, I'll let a giver give a gift and bless me, but I'm not about to try to swindle. Thankfully, it seems that a lot of people aren't exactly excited about the things that I am anyway.
OPPORTUNISTIC FIGS
Three months ago, a neighbor pruned his two fig bushes and was going to throw the cuttings away. Thankfully I caught him in the act and he was more than happy to let me clean up his mess and take the cuttings. He already has his two bushes and is not interested in any more. He knows that these cuttings could make hundreds of more fig trees, but he's not interested in that. To him, they have no value.
To me, I see free food for my family and possible some home-based income as time progresses. Did I take advantage of the person? Not even close. In fact, I actually helped him by cleaning up the cuttings. Did I take advantage of the situation? Absolutely! And that is what I mean by being opportunistic.
OPPORTUNISTIC CEDARS
On my homestead, I like to view everything as serving some sort of purpose. From rocks and trees to wild edibles, it all serves a purpose. Many may not care much about it, but to me, everything that I can use on my land is one less thing that I'll have to buy. Since the cedar trees here can negatively affect apple trees, I plan on removing the cedar trees from my land. If you saw this video that @mericanhomestead and I did together, then you already know that cedar is a great wood for other uses.
Additionally, @mericanhomestead has a really nice cedar pergola that they use for growing their Achocha Fat Baby Cucumbers in their garden. After seeing it in person a few times, it's inspired me to create a few on my homestead to grow a variety of vining garden plants.
When my neighbor @jaguarlife was bulldozing some trees on his land and when we cut a few down for the power lines, people were mostly only interested in what made good firewood. That means that the cedar trees were more of a nuisance. Again, I could step in with an opportunistic attitude and take advantage of this situation too, offering to clean up that portion of the mess and gaining more cedar posts in the process. It's another win/win situation.
Not only that, but the goats will actually strip the bark off of the cedar trees while I prepare to use them. By the time that I get around to building what I'm going to build, my animals may have taken care of some extra work me too! It's interesting that they too can help out and get what they want from a situation while helping someone else in the process!
OPPORTUNISTIC ROCKS
One more recent situation that we ran into was that at some point in the future this pile needs to be moved. It's basically a dump pile of concrete and rock that provides some habitat for snakes and such. Since I've got some uses for the rock, I offered to start getting that moved out of the pile. That way, when it comes times to move the rest, there will already be less. Also, since I know that the folks around here don't care for snakes and since I have a really good suspicion that there are some in there, I can "help" again and not only save them the trouble of encountering snakes, but most likely spare the lives of those snakes in the process and have some wild-man @papa-pepper fun while I'm at it!
We've got a lot of uses for stuff like these rocks moving forward, and soon enough I'll have more to share. I just wanted to share this "opportunistic" mentality with you all and inspire you to be encouraged to take advantage of situations, but still refrain from taking advantage of people. I think that if more people behaved this way the world would be a much better place. After all, one man's trash is another man's treasure!
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-of-an-opportunity
Until next time…
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A man love of nature that know no bound. Taking advantage of the situation helping nature and helping people and animal in turn
That sounds good to me!
You just need an opportunistic snake charmer, now!
I'm sure you'll take care with the snakes and know what you're doing. Making a heck of a lot of noise as you go about removing the rocks would probably help. They'll probably detect the vibrations and scarper as you go about your work.
Great read and good luck in the land of opportunity! Though it hardly sounds like you need it.
I can't wait for snakes again. Milking goats is somehow less edgy.
Very impressive! Is there no end to your talents (goat milking aside)? ;)
Your last line in the video, you state you won't be using the jar again. Snake venom's just protein, or at least the active ingredients are. Boiling water would render it safe to reuse, I would say. Of course, if in doubt - throw it out!
I think the lab coat / safety specs certainly put your snake at ease. :D
LOL - Good to know about the venom and protein.
One mans trash is another mans treasure and reusing is saving from the landfills...
Good point! I love preventing waste too!
haha I like this little board with Steemit on it in front of your house.
It's a new idea btw :D
Yeah, we had some fun with that!
yes nice.
hmmmmmm @papa-pepper, wise words.
Your words sparks responsibility in me.
If we can only deal with greed and selfishness then would our lives be better off.
I love that shade on your eye. lol
I love the way you think. It such impressive that you can see and grab every opportunity. I have to admit that myself can't usually see that opportunity from someone else 'trash'
The egoist does not think about the feelings of others.
they do it all, they never look down, they just look up always.
But someday such a person will fall also friend @papa-pepper.
Hmmm, always make the good about of any situation we may find our self.
That we should!
Thanks for sharing i will done upvote..A very good post
Good afternoon! Again, excellent reflection. I believe that on many occasions, unfortunately, many of us have felt used by other people and, in those cases, we still have a feeling of sadness in our soul. I believe that this happens, because of the mentality of utilitarianism, to see people many times as objects, as things, that we can use and then discard.
Hence the importance that I see in this reflection, since it is very different when faced with a situation that solutions are sought to win/win, rather than seeking to take advantage of people, that is, I believe that the key is to do good to others and ourselves, taking advantage of the situations that arise in life and not taking advantage of others. Logically, for this it is necessary to overcome selfishness and individuality, as is clearly expressed in the valuable reflection that @papa-peper has shared with us. Thank you very much for that!
https://steemit.com/life/@lauraac/being-opportunistic-taking-advantage-of-situations-not-people
great one post sir....impressive