Contributed by Dave Jensen
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."
The woman said, "You are right -- our generation didn't have that 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 that GREEN thing
back in our day.
Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for
numerous things; most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This
was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to
personalize our books. But too bad we didn't do that GREEN thing back then.
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 you are right. We didn't have that 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, young lady you are right; we didn't have that 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 you're right; we didn't have that 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 that 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 burger joint.
But it's sad how your current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have that GREEN thing back then."