The American Dream is a house and a car, a college education for your children, but it’s more than that. It’s that you can turn your talent, your ideas, your dreams, with hard work and perseverance, into success. The house, the car and better future for the kids usually come with that.
While the idea of “Ownership” society comes crashing down as Wall Street wails, I’m one of those Americans that has been the owner all these years, mostly of Hope. And the crashing of the Big Three car companies, I take very personally though I’ve never lived in Detroit. In fact, I just want to smack them.
This has nothing to do with their bailout. I’m not opining either way on that. No, this story is all about me and my American Dream.
My husband has a bad back and couldn’t sit comfortably so he designed and patented dynamic seat designs. The chair designs are for comfort but the car seat design also is a safety feature. In fact, the safety feature is what we presented to the car companies. (For info on the CBM Seat, you can check my web site.)
Basically, for the past 20 years, we have put all out energy into patenting and presenting the seat designs to companies that we hoped would market and sell it. When people ask me what happened to the lovely house that my husband built (he used to be a builder) when our kids were small, I have to answer, “We’re sitting on it.”
Yes, everything has gone into his seating designs. And before you tell me, “Did you try this? Did you try that?” I have to answer, “Yes, we tried all of that.” And here I am wondering if we’ll pay the rent next month. At least if I have to live in my old car, I know that I have the safest, most comfortable seats any car can have.
My car has prototype seats in the front. I drive in them every day. I know that they are safe as well as comfortable. When we sent a team of engineers in Detroit a prototype to try, they were dubious. I told them, “Put it in your CEO’s car.” (Yes the same one that flew a private jet to Washington to ask for a bailout.) “Let him drive it for two weeks, then take it out and put his old seat back. Then this seat will be in cars so fast. People will buy your cars just for the comfort factor.”
You know what they told me? And this is what really makes me question if they are worth $25 billion. They said they weren’t allowed to put it in a car. WHAT? A CAR COMPANY THAT ISN’T ALLOWED TO PUT IT IN A CAR! Ok, I’ll stop yelling, but really. How could they ever test the comfort factor without putting it into a car and trying it?
We have already crash tested it and know that it meets all the safety improvements standards we have been touting. One company’s chief engineer that tested it told my husband the tests were too good to be true. Too good to be true! So that was the end of the project with them.
Putting our seats in cars probably would not have saved the car companies, but how many other decisions regarding innovative technology have they made in the exact same way? Ok, Ok, I will try to calm down. This is about the American Dream not the engineering quality of our invention.
Some of my friends remind me of Preston Tucker and his “Car of Tomorrow” and what happened to that idea. “I don’t want to be Tucker.” I cry. But I’m beginning to realize my American Dream has become an obsession. I can’t let go of it.
So I tell my kids, “Look at what we’ve done and don’t do it.” But my son just laughs and dances away (yes, he’s a dancer.) My daughter rolls her eyes and heads back to NY to follow her dreams (which I hope include someday moving back here to The Bay Area.) And really, I’d probably do it all again anyway. I still believe someday every car will have one of our seats. I just hope it is in my lifetime.
We do have a company that is making one of our office chair designs. Naturally, I’m doing everything I can to help them succeed. I’ll be at their booth at the MacWorld show in Jan. at the Moscone Center in SF to show the chair. And on Sunday’s I drive up to the Santa Rosa Mall, join the Kiosks in the center of the Mall and show the chair. At least when I drive up there (about 40 miles each way) in my old car, I am in the best seat. My back is happy.
The American Dream is not necessarily the promise of bonus payouts and a private jet that keeps the dream alive (although paying the rent would be nice.). It is about following your passions, your ideals, your hopes for a better world. And I sure hope for everyone to have a better seat. OK I’m obsessed. I no longer can tell the difference.