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.
Great post...thanks.
Okay. I’ll own up to having a button box, but mine is in a divided case, and they’re sorted by color.
[ducks and runs away, dang neatnik!]
We didn’t have some inconsiderate idiot blocking the aisles in the grocery/department store, while obliviously talking on a cellphone.
I save buttons in my sewing kit. I tear up old flannel sheets and towels and keep them for my husband to use when polishing his guitars, or to use if something spills on the floor, or to use as smaller towels to dry off the dogs when they come in during rain or snow, or any other need that would require multiple paper towels. If one of the dogs knocks over the water bowl, these rags are perfect. Speaking of the water bowl, I keep it sitting on a plastic lid from a take-out order. It keeps the metal bowl from marring the tile, and I can replace it whenever I choose.
We buy gallons of distilled water for the espresso machine and refill them with the RO water from the tap. It tastes really good, and we have a nice emergency store in the basement (without power, the well pump does not work) along with the food supply.
Next purchase: a generator
I picked up two lawnmowers from people’s trash this past year. One just needed the fuel system cleaned and the other needed a drive belt for the self propelled part to work.
I remember when you can ground your own coffee right at the store.
LOL! Not me! :)
I have a bunch of those big soda bottles filled with water in my garage. If we lose power, they will allow us to flush the toilets.
Not a lot of packaged food, either. On the other hand, there are some great recipes on the box and can labels.
Not a whole lot of cleaning choices, either - vinegar, ammonia, bleach, salt, lemon, elbow grease - wasn’t Wagon Train sponsored by 20 Mule Team Borax?
I have a bag of paper towels, used, for cleaning the bird bath and kitty “oops”. LOL They come in handy in the winter when the guys track in grit and ice on their boots too. THEN they get thrown away. I have holey towels for cat carriers and the floor in winter.
Yup. I remember Grandma getting A&P 8 O’Clock coffee. They still have it and it’s fresher but people go for “convenience”.
That’s amazing AH! LOL!
You should clean them up, paint them, and sell them back to the folks who threw them away. Switch them around so you don’t sell them their own mowers back, LOL!
I refill the plastic bottles from the tap- c'mon in, the water's fine!
I can’t stand it when someone is on a cell phone in the store, and especially when they have their “phone voice” that can be heard several aisles away.
I use old coffee jugs for toilet flushing water in case the electric goes out. The blue ones have handles.
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