Rocketry Planet

Once again, Americans all across our country will gather at the homes of family and friends to indulge in a feast of epic proportions. Granted, everyone won't eat until they hurt, some won't even eat at all—we are still a nation that has a certain percentage of those who are economically disadvantaged.

Unfortunately, the number of those disadvantaged people in America seems to be on the rise, even as reports on the economy continue to be whitewashed to lead the public to believe that things are not as bad as they appear—on the other hand, practical experience suggests that the economy is doing roughly twice as bad as what is being reported.

'Homelessness' is defined as a person who "lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence," as reported on "Now on PBS", a public broadcasting show Tom Brokaw called "fearless about challenging conventional wisdom" and labeled "one of the last bastions of serious journalism on TV" by the Austin American-Statesman.

Tent cities, like this one in Florida, have been sprouting up around the country since the economy has started forcing people from their homes. Photo: Rod Millington.

Our current recession will force 1.5 million more people into homelessness over the next two years, according to estimates by The National Alliance to End Homelessness. In a 2008 report, the U.S. Conference of Mayors cited a major increase in the number of homeless in 19 out of the 25 cities surveyed. On average, cities reported a 12 percent increase of homelessness since 2007.

Although homelessness is a difficult number to measure definitively, it appears that more people—especially families—are sleeping in shelters, living in their cars, and taking up residence in tent communities. While these people scramble to get their next meal, I am thankful I don't have to look—even if I am "sponging" off my mom and her fixed income. That's something to be thankful for, somewhere to turn.

One approximation of the annual number of homeless in America is from a study by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, which estimates between 2.3 and 3.5 million people experience homelessness. According to a 2008 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report an estimated 671,888 people experienced homelessness in one night in January 2007. Some 58 percent of them were living in shelters and transitional housing while 42 percent were unsheltered. While things may seem at times dismal, I am thankful I have a roof over my head.

The economy has had a far reaching effect on the ability to find jobs as well. The unemployment rate in October was 9.6%, up from 9.3% in calendar year 2009 where 14 million people were unemployed. The country is averaging 9.65% year to date, and these numbers do not include the people who have simply given up finding a job. While the economy is crippling some of the rocketry manufacturers, or perhaps all to some degree, I am thankful that they live in a country where they can bring their products to market, because if they lived in a country were those operations weren't allowed, they wouldn't own a company to suffer negative sales trends. You see, there are good things even in what seems like bad things.

Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. 2010 unemployment data extracted on: November 25, 2010 (3:26:11 PM).

Everywhere you look there are reasons to be thankful—you can always find someone more disadvantaged than you. I have my own reasons for being thankful, some of them I am sharing with you in the hope you will share some of your own reasons to be thankful as well.

First and foremost, I am thankful for living in the United States of America. For all its faults, it is still the best system of government in the world—many countries try to emulate our government, many more are envious of our country and a small handful seem content to make us out to be the Great Satan because we don't conform to their singular religious views. But that's nothing new, they've been fighting that battle for thousands of years, and probably will until the end of time.

Living in America gives me a lot of reasons to be thankful, like the ability to worship my God in the manner I see fit. There are almost as many different types of churches, synagogues and temples as their are people, but that diversity means I have a lot of choice in pursuing my spiritual self. I am thankful to be able to go to church or pray in my home without reprisal. I know those prayers are heard, and I've seen them answered. I am thankful to have a direct connection to the Big Man in the sky.

Although many countries share our ability to launch large hobby rockets, participants there find themselves entangled in red tape limiting everything about their hobby. Hopefully with time, they can strive to implement our systems in their country and enjoy the hobby like we do. But what a great place America is, where we can take on one of the largest bureaucracies in Washington and prevail! I am very thankful for that, because the underdog does have a chance. What other country could have raised nearly $500,000 to fight Big Brother's overreaching regulation? From a tiny niche group of contributors who probably never totaled over 7500 people, nearly a half a million dollars was raised over the ten year period of the lawsuit. What other countries can even sue their government? I am thankful for that. Yes, we have a lot to be thankful for living in America.

America is a nation of talented individuals, highly skilled and schooled, and those individuals bring their expertise into our hobby, developing products with prices lower than if some major manufacturer of electronic equipment had chosen to do so. Or a major aerospace manufacturing company. These talented people share their knowledge openly and try to elevate their fellow rocketeers to their level, lending them a helping hand. I am thankful for that. I applaud all of the people who didn't have to share their knowledge or bring us their high-tech gadgets to use in our hobby marketplace—but I am thankful they did. For all the diversity we have in product availability, I am thankful for the wide selection of products available from a wide selection of companies that I can buy for my hobby, mostly without breaking the bank.

I am also thankful some visionary people saw the strength in numbers and came together to form clubs, and later, national organizations. Those numbers allowed us to compare our collective safety records and negotiate lower liability insurance premiums for our members and landowners. I am thankful for that. I am thankful for the foresight people like G. Harry Stine, Orville Carlisle, Bill Roe, Vern Estes and Lee Piester had for the work they did early on. I am also thankful for Ken Good and Mark Bundick, for taking a bite out of the ATF, for hanging on like a bull dog, and for not letting go until they saw the hobby's lawsuit through to its logical conclusion. I only wish Joe Eagan could have hung in there long enough to see it himself. I am thankful for the witnesses for the two organizations, Gary Rosenfield, Dr. Terry McCreary and others who refuted the ATF's 'junk science' and made the court understand in the end. I am thankful for Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming, for taking a stand on an unpopular subject, for sticking up for the rights of his constituents, and working to make hobby rocketry available for our grandchildren. These people's hard work paid off and we haven't even begun to reap the dividends of their collective hard work yet.

The level of education of our hobby participants compared to the overall population nationally is high compared to some countries in the world, and that knowledge base ends up serving our hobby through better educated organizational board members, trustee members, committee members and others who serve in volunteer positions. I am thankful for that. Their jobs are usually thankless because there is always someone else who thinks they can do it better but never seem to step up to the plate and seek a position themselves that will allow them to do that. The boards and trustees and committees should get a warm round of applause (and a big thank you) for a perpetual job well done in spite of having to persistently knock the critics off their backs. Without them, the hobby would be helter skelter here in America, so I am thankful for our volunteers.

I am thankful for Rocketry Planet, and mainly its users, because without you, there would be no website. I am thankful to be able to state my opinion, even when it's wrong, and you still come back. I thank the members for tolerating my tirades, which are more than occasional, and in spite of all the mistakes I make, you still come back. Even though I screw up on a regular basis, everyone treats me like it's no big deal, and encourages me to keep trying. And you still come back. That means very much to me, more than you may ever know.

I am thankful that there are two distinctly different rocketry hobbies: There is the hobby rocketry I just mentioned, the one you participate in on the Internet, viewing websites, searching for information and posting on discussion forums and email distribution lists. Then there is the other hobby rocketry, the one you participate in when you get to your club's launch site, the one that's done outdoors. Even though the names haven't been changed to protect the guilty, everyone there acts like long lost friends and that they are really glad to see you. They tolerate your opinions and your right to espouse them, but they don't hold it against you in the end. They act like you never said one thing out of line on the Internet version of the hobby when you show up at the outdoor version of the hobby. They make you feel welcome and invite you back. I really am thankful for that! Thank God for that.

Most of all, I am thankful for the extended family I have in the hobby of rocketry. In a time of need, people I didn't even know opened their hearts to me as well as their wallets, making contributions to Rocketry Planet that not only allowed me to keep the site running, but allowed me to keep it running long enough to allow some of the turmoil to settle down. I don't know how many have noticed the flood of new articles being posted, some long overdue, but that was made possible by your generosity. Your contributions have given me enough breathing room that I can take a step back from the grossly saturated job market and search for the right job that will allow me to continue to be my mother's primary caretaker while still working from home. Without you, I would have had to take a minimum wage job in food service or some other equally abysmal, low-paying industry, which would have taken me out of my home at a time when my mother needs me the most. To you, all of the Friends of Rocketry Planet, those who contributed, I owe you a big debt of gratitude, a big THANK YOU so much. You are all my heroes.

America is the land of opportunity, where anything is possible if you want to accomplish it bad enough. It is my dream, it is my passion—I really want to make a positive influence on the hobby of rocketry and to that end, Rocketry Planet is my vehicle. If I can find a position similar to what I had, telecommuting from home, where I pretty much set my own hours, I will have the time I need to maintain this site, update it to new software and take it where few can imagine. Because of that opportunity, I thank all of my friends in the hobby who have made that possible thus far. Your continued support in the days ahead will not go unnoticed, and like here, I will make sure I thank you, both privately and publicly. Next year promises to be better than last year. We've made it through Thanksgiving, now all I have to do is make it through the Christmas season and we'll have a green light to make 2011 a banner year.

When I consider the things I am most thankful for, other than those I mentioned above, I am thankful for my mother, God bless her soul, the only remainder of my immediate family. I am thankful for God, and for Him continually improving her health, as well as mine. I am thankful He loved me enough to offer me a personal relationship with him. I am thankful for the moderators, who without their help, I would have probably sliced a vein years ago. I am thankful for all of you readers who have helped me through the most difficult year of my life. I am not out of the woods yet, as I am still looking for work, but I owe a lot to the people who have talked me down off the roof and given me a reason to believe again. To the readers, to the moderators, to all of you who read but don't post. Thank you. All of you. Sincerely.

Yes, in America, we truly do have a lot of be thankful for. It is the land of opportunity. The opportunity to be thankful. If you will look around you, you can always find someone who is not as well off as you, and find a reason to be thankful. I know I am thankful. I have all of you.