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.
yes dear. ;)
Actually I was afraid of Dolly. She was a huge dapple gray and I have always been small. She towered over me.
It’s very wasteful to use them just once. And I hate using a new one for the outdoor birdbath etc. Hubby buys 8 packs of Sparkle.
We did that for when the ice cream truck came around. :)
What a bargain!
>>Actually, I save the gift bags that we get and re-use them.<<
We use nothing but gift bags. Year to year. My sister even made ones out of material. I never buy gift wrap.
You should have bribed her with sugar cubes and carrots; she’d have become your best friend!
Read the thread.
LOL!
No kidding? I’ll have to remember that.
Gift wrap is butt ugly now! I have some saved. :-)
Love this..My HEB never pushes those “green bags”. I USE the plastic bags..I have 3 indoor cats!
I can relate to most of this..but then I was a depression baby and a child in WW2. We HAD to recycle...or do without.
We couldn’t bring in TV signals til the 50s in my small town so we never had a postage stamp TV.
What on earth are we ever going to do with all the saved buttons..LOL?
“We use nothing but gift bags...”
It does save on tape and aggravation, doesn’t it? Plus, you can get them at the Dollar Store. I’ve known a lot of people do this for Christmas... they would rather spend time with the family, baking, decorating etc... than hours hidden in your locked room wrapping up the presents.
None of it is new. There has been poo and dirt on everything for years.
When we were kids, our bodies got used to it. Now we clean everything with anti-bacterial soap and alcohol based hand cleaners.
Wonder why people get sick? It’s because no one lets their immunities build. I had a “friend” come to my house and wipe my high chair down with alcohol wipes before she would put her son into it. He son then started kindergarten and was sick the whole year.
Unfortunately when I was “bad” my Mother packed my bag and said she was giving me to the rag man. I sat on the couch waiting. He came and she went through her act. I was NEVER getting near him or his horse again. I was only 4. C’est la vie.
Eventually we’ll all have narrow pathways through the buttons in our homes that are piled floor to ceiling. :)
Back then, you conserved because you were frugal. Today, people conserve because it has become the closest thing they know to morality.
We must have 40 or more of them that we just keep re-using. I hate wrapping presents.
That reminded me of waiting all summer long for watermelon because my mother wouldn’t buy any until it was at most 2¢ a pound, or preferably 1¢.
That was agony for a watermelon loving kid, I’ll tell you what.
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