Since one of my stated purposes of this blog is a study/discussion of the aspects of nature, I am going to start the New Year off with a discussion of the relationship between the POTA Activator and the POTA Hunter. First off, is it a co-dependency? Without the hunters there would be no activators and without the activators there would be no hunters. The existence of either depends on the existence of the other, but a true co-dependence would suggest a one-to-one relationship. Dictionary.com defines co-dependency as: “a state of mutual dependence between two people”. WAIT!!!!! They used a derivative form of the word within its own definition! Naughty, naughty!!  Websters defines it as: “ a psychological condition or a relationship in which a person manifesting low self-esteem and a strong desire for approval has an unhealthy attachment to another often controlling or manipulative person”. This shows that it does not apply at all to the relationship between hunters and activators. 

Let’s look at symbiosis. Webster defines it as: ” 1: the living together in more or less intimate association or close union of two dissimilar organisms (as in parasitism or commensalism)” This first definition does not really apply. Though we may make friends through POTA activities, I wouldn’t classify the association as intimate or parasitical. Now lets look at definition number 2 in Webster’s arsenal: ”2 : a cooperative relationship (as between two persons or groups)”. There, I think they are onto something! By activating, the activator gives the hunter a purpose and the hunter, by hunting gives the activator a purpose. It is often repeated that without the hunters, there would be no activators. Hmmmm …. something seems to be missing here. 

The group that is overlooked or forgotten is the one that labors in the shadows. The organizers, the administrators, the VOLUNTEERS who run the POTA.APP website and maintain a clearing house of logs, those who track the State Parks and assign numbers to them, those who make the rules for activations and those who watch over the logs and design the awards which mystically and magically appear in our accounts when we pass a threshold. Think of them this year. Maybe donate some time or money to support the effort. 

In any event, continue to support POTA in whichever why your heart tells you to and is within your abilities. If you are a hunter, hunt. If you are an activator, activate. If you do both then do both. Just have fun and POTA on

Namaste, kidlets!