Posted on 07/27/2011 7:01:13 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952
Sent with nostalgia...
The Green Thing
In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."
He was right -- our generation didn't 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 didn't have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.
But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't 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 the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that old lady is right; we didn't 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 didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.
When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, we didn't 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 didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she's right; we didn't 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 blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But we didn't 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 didn't 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.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person.
Awe, that was just mean!
That wouldn’t have worked in my dysfunctional household. I’d have packed my own bag!
Interesting observation. I think you have something there. :)
My grandparents used plastic milk jugs for "bottled water" on the farm. They'd fill them at night and put them in the freezer, take them out the next day and put them in the truck. There's nothing so good as ice-cold well water when you're bucking bales in the summer.
Wow. How bad can a 4 year old be? Poor kid.
LOL
I'm perfectly normal now.
The ethanol in fuel is also a killer for fuel systems. I try to find ethanol free fuel, but it is getting harder to find. I use mid range in my mowers now. I still use some old metering rods to clean the orifices.
You’re right on as usual, Mr. Guy.
She was mean. And dysfunctional. I still used to watch Dolly from our front window. She really was beautiful.
You save more money by buying your own water filter and filter you own water, and the quality is just as good or better than the bottled water you buy at the store, it’s all a scam.
Didn’t jump through hoops fast enough? My grandparents thought I was a very good child. My Mom could sit the 3 of us on a bench in a store and try on clothes and we never moved or made a peep so I couldn’t have been that bad.
I still don’t care for watermelon. :-)
Kind of a "we are "dust", and to "dust" we shall return" sort of thing, huh??
LOL!!
The only time I get the rider out now, is when I have to mow my yard and the neighbor’s. She doesn’t have a fenced yard. I mow the back yard with the self propelled mower since it has a bagger.
Heard on the news the other day that Austin was banning plastic bags in the near future. Just added plastic bags, aka litter bags, to my hoarding list right below light bulbs.
Now, of course, it's a "brown paper bag"...or one buys one's lunch wrapped in waxed paper with a drink in a styrafoam cup.
I have a feeling that you are quite a different type of mother than your mother was.
We use the plastic bags for cleaning the cat litter boxes. I’ve used a lot of the old buttons on clothes that have broken or lost buttons.
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