The Green Thing

The Green Thing

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should
bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save
our environment for future generations."
She 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 our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down
clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young 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 wadded up old newspapers 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 i
n 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 know it all young person.

Remember: Don't make old people mad.

 

Yep, most people under middle age don't have a clue. We didn't use a $2,000 P.D.A. to make a phone call; a turbo-charged S.U.V. to pick up the kids that could have easily walked; a house as twice as big as what you need; live on fast food, without even leaving our vehicle; rely on computers and calculators to think for you and video-games to be entertained, etc., etc. And we actually used real money that we posses, not borrowed cyber-money.
Nope, we weren't 'green', we were too busy trying to survive and actually work for the achievements that the younger generation takes mostly for granted.

 

I am of the generation that the OP speaks of (i am 65) and remember many of things he speaks of.
Is it not strange how all the so called new technology has turned the population into a throw away generation.
I also marvel at how technology has made everything smaller and more compact except TVs that are the size of a wall now.
Here in Belgium plastic sacks are no longer available in supermarkets you have to bring your own.

 

I have read this before but worth a thanks anyway because I love it.
I'm 35 and remember well walking or biking everywhere, rarely got a ride anywhere, mum hanging the washing out. If I wanted to hook up with friends I would walk or bike to their house and knock on the door.
Gen Y has no clue about these concepts and thinks it's lame or some such.
It's got to the point people are now afraid most of losing their phone or facebook, neither of which I use.
Working on building sites always amused me, especially here in Canada since you North Americans adopted power tools long before we Brits did. I once sat on my lunch and watched this guy need to rip an 8'x4' sheet of plywood down the lenght, he unpacked his circular saw and his blade changing tool and his extension cord, then wandered around for a couple of minutes looking for a wall socket, my boss told him the closest one was 2 doors down (new sub division) outside the back door, so he went to look, came back and rummaged for another extension cord, couldn't find one so walked over about a block to borrow one from his buddy.
At this point I thought I'd have a laugh, I got out of the truck, looked in the guys van and pulled out a hand saw, drew a line down the middle and ripped it down (I'm a former carpenter by the way), I got back in the truck and continued with my lunch.
The guy came back, hooked up his cords and ran them through the house, came out the front, plugged in his saw, walked over to the plywood and froze. We sat there laughing.
Point being, you wasted more time and energy than if you hadn't have been so bloody lazy and just done it by hand. Sometimes the old ways are better, I mean come on, the hand saw and hand held hammer have been tried and tested over how many hndreds if not thousands of years?.... They work, they just require a tub of elbow grease! Which I understand is difficult to come by if you're a young'n

Kids :-D

 

With his tools. bwhahahahaha :-D