The Green Thing

[retiredhappy]

I was sent the attached and thought you would also enjoy it.

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 the 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.

[Nasoosie]

I love this, Karen! And is it ever true! My grandparents would be horrified to see what our cities toss away, burn, or bury every day now.
And it's mostly stuff that will NEVER degrade in our lifetimes. Schools need to teach our children how crucial it is that we learn how to truly live better by stopping the buy-and-toss society we have become. At the same time we have polluted our environments, we have polluted our bodies with our lack of activity. Kids love activity. They get brainwashed into thinking sitting in front of a game console is more fun and easier than going outside to play, in real life, the games they use their thumbs for while becoming more and more like that overgrown, blimpy slug creature from Star Wars. Some days I wonder how on earth we arrived at this new phase of life so danged quickly----just in my own lifetime. And I am ashamed that we humans are so likely to choose the easy way over the healthy, safer way of living. As a teacher, I am wondering if it's too late to teach our kids what happened to our generation, and how to avoid the pitfalls of taking the easier road. I will try to make sure Orion sees what's going on out there. Sigh.

[dayspring39]

Oh yes I do remember when we didn't have the GREEN THING... I bet many of us do... sadly those days will only be remembered in books when our generation fades away... thanks for sharing this humorous but sadly true bit of our history...
Kathleen

[JudyJB]

And we bought things from bins in stores, without all the layers of that horrible plastic stuff you can't open without scissors. Meat was wrapped in paper instead of plastic.

We also drank a lot of koolaid, lemonade, iced tea, and other stuff made in a pitcher and served in glasses instead of buying it in bottles!