My sister sent me this and I like it so much, I'm sharing it with you all.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 day."
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. But we didn't have the 'green' thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator or elevator 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 a few 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 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 a bank of sockets to power a dozen things. 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 place.
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?
6 comments:
Hear, hear!! Absolutely right. Or, as my Mom would have said when she agreed wholeheartedly, "Abso-bloomin'-lutely right!"
I remember tiny televisions in black and white that went off the air at night, and we were still so excited about owning a TV we'd watch the test pattern for half an hour until Mom caught us.
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel
Aint it the truth!!! I well remember washing diapers in the tub when my husband and I lived in Alaska and couldn't afford to wash in the laundramat!
These kids don't know what green means! :)
true enough!
WE still have milk delivered in bottles that we wash and return! But all very true.
Great post, and 100% true!
Each generation sees things from a different point of view. I guess we are the sum total of our experiences, so it is hard to understand other ways of doing things. - Margy
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