The Green Thing Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman , that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags werent good for the environment. The woman apologized and explained, We didnt have this green thing back in my earlier days. The clerk responded, Thats our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations. She was right -- our generation didnt have the green thing in its day. Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over . So they really were recycled. But we didnt have the green thing back in our day. We walked up stairs, because we didnt have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didnt climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks . But she was right. We didnt have the green thing in our day. Back then, we washed the babys diapers because we didnt have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didnt have the green thing back in our day. Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room . And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief ( remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didnt have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it , not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didnt fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didnt need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But shes right; we didnt have the green thing back then. We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of from a plastic bottle filled with water shipped in from another state or country. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didnt have the green thing back then . Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didnt need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint. We wanted to improve our lives but we werent so hungry for expensive gadgets and services that mom and dad both had to have jobs in order to pay the bills... we didnt need huge TVs, iPods, video cameras, personal computers, cel phones, cable, internet, ATVs, Playstations, jet skis, snowmobiles, carbon fiber tennis rackets and titanium golf clubs. We got along without that stuff, and some of us even had savings accounts and time to talk to our next door neighbors over the hedge instead of via email or text messaging. But isnt it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didnt have the green thing back then? Please pass this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person. Remember: Dont make old People mad. We dont like being old in the first place, so it doesnt take much to piss us off.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 20:16:29 +0000
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