Seek & Define : Disastertunity
Capstrat has been the birthplace of some of the most colorful and creative new words and phrases I've ever heard. So here's a new series that anyone can add blog entries to and everyone is sure to enjoy.
(Remember to post a comment on what you think the definition is before taking a peek.)
Disastertunity : An unfavorable project or combination of projects which may cause widespread distress and will leave you looking like a pile of charred remains. <--Highlight to reveal definition.
Comments
"distastertunity" = a disaster painstakingly re-shaped into an opportunity, as if by the skilled hands of a patient, master sculptor. Example: Hurricane Katrina was a disaster of mass proportion. Yet, perhaps it became an opportunity for those who survived to reflect and build upon their inner strength, and will themselves to start anew, in another town, another city, and another state of mind--a state of hopeful expectation and yes, opportunity.
If unseen dangers rear up and wreak mayhem and chaos - if everything that could possibly go wrong has, then the moment has come to transform a disaster into a "disastertunity". Because in every disaster is an opportunity.
PS. I do believe that Paul Smith is the originator of this phrase. He owns the domain name
The previous commenters seem to have it right.
This word is the difference between seeing the glass half full or seeing it half empty.
I have long believed that good things can come out of bad. That's the point of this word (and I didn't look it up before commenting!). We can see that historically:
A wonderful synergy of cultures in today's Britain is the legacy of centuries of colonialism.
The reggae music genre emerged from the Trenchtown ghetto in Jamaica, and brought together races who were often antagonistic.
Martin Luther King's message of hope and reconciliation emerged from the repressive era of segregation in America's south.
9-11 brought this nation together in unprecedented unity.
And we can sometimes see it on smaller scales:
I was caught in a downpour and my cellphone got soaked--so I was motivated to purchase a new one that has more functionality than my old one.
And so on. I think the key is to learn to translate this principle into positive action that moves us forward in ways that we might never have otherwise.
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