Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment. The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, We didnt have this green thing back in my earlier days. The young clerk responded, Thats our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations. The older lady said that she was right – her generation didnt have the green thing in its day. The older lady went on to explain: “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. Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown p aper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didnt do the ‘green thing’ back then. 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 you’re right, we didnt have the ‘green thing’ in our day. Back then we washed the babys diapers because we didnt have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in the early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothe s from their brothers or sisters (and cousins), not always brand-new clothing. But you’re right, young lady; 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 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 you’re right; we didnt have the ‘green thing’ back then. We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade 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 the bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the familys $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the ‘green thing.’ 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 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint. But, isnt it sad, how the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didnt have the ‘green thing’ back then?”
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 01:30:04 +0000