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.
:-)
LLS
Well, when you run out of old t-shirts, you know what to do with your old undies!!! Actually, it does work. The waist band stretches and doesn’t cut into the plant. We used nicknames for the plants as well. “Fruit of the Loom has four new green tomatoes today” or “Hanes has two red ones that need picking”. LOL!
When I was a kid, the school would have “paper drives”. EVerybody would bring in bundles of paper, and the school would benefit from the proceeds.
Grandpa had an old iron on his workbench to straighten nails. Grandma let him have her iron because she had a new electric stove and not a wood burning one.
LOL...I do the same. I still have the gift bag with Power Rangers on it I got for my son’s birthday years ago. He’s now 23!
Since the enviro-weenies took over, the new ways pollute, pollute, pollute. Enviro-weenies enviro-weenied the environment and called it a cure for pollution. Support pollution, send an enviro-weenie group a check?
Recyclers around here are losing money. Few trash companies bother.
When they hired “Know-it-all” POS young punk accountant/MBA types to run them.
40 years ago, who would have ever believed that a whole nation could be convinced to actually BUY water in bottles?
40 years ago, who would have ever believed that a whole nation could be convinced to actually BUY water in bottles?
Aren't they lucky? They can have one in every room so they don't have to talk to one another!
What is funny is most people never see what is on the outside of the gift bag. I think they just see a “bag”. I sent a birthday gift to her husband in a Barbie Princess bag and he never noticed. We both waited to see what he would say and he never said a thing. (maybe women notice more?!)
Memories eh? :-)
You’re probably right. I seldom buy ice cream anymore because it’s mush when we get back from town.
What are pajames?? ;_)
Flannel things you use in the winter to keep warm after 40 years of marriage. :-D
Actually, I reuse the plastic bottles for my personal water bottles. I keep three or four with a big R on the lid for refilled. I don’t like the taste of some bottled water.
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