Subject: 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?
Very well said Bunkie. I agree with you. We also had and still have very good imaginations. Kids now a days don't use their imaginations. Unless their imagining how they are going to get their parents to give them something they really don't need.
I'm going to save that and send it to my youngest son. He's always banging on about how wasteful we humans are. Maybe he can take a tip or two from us oldies who didn't have a green thing back in our day.
Bunkie can I give you TWO seeds? please. every time I see a pop bottle I think of how hard we worked to recycle them at the grocery store. I even remember going along the road to look in the ditch for them. My dad even made us go along the road to pick up the cut roadside "hay" from when the township came through and cut the weeds down and that's what we fed the horses in the summer, not the expensive baled hay. no new clothes for us. hand me downs only pretty much or what my mom made. My sister and I shared a pair of paisley buttonfly jeans when I was in 5ht grade and she was in 3rd grade ummmm, not real cool or stylish, but my dad only paid 2.00 for them, so we had to wear them or nothing at all ("get a job, if you want something else") book covers were made from grocery store paper bags. Nope I never had to worry about recycling or reusing. We just did it.
Amen Bunkie. The kids nowadays are just beginning to catch on about "being green". They really do not know. I used to collect soda bottles for the deposits to add to my birthday money and babysitting money for camp each summer. My mom usually made up the difference if I did not have enough because I always helped my mom with the housework and taking care of my handicapped baby brother. Families helped each other back then just because families do that. We didnt get paid to take care of our family. I babysat for pay by the time I was 10, and my mom only let me charge 50 cents for the whole evening because our neighbors were not rich either. And that included taking care of 4 rowdy boys, doing the dishes, cleaning up the house before the parents got home and playing games with the boys so they would be worn out and ready for bed by the time Mom and Dad got home. Nowadays people have a hissy fit if a 12 year old is left home to fend for themselves. I was babysitting for free before I was 10. That was the norm where I grew up.
I know how you feel Bunkie, There are those that give you the crazy eye for picking up mulch from the side of the road, but then ask for your green bags at the market.I try to recycle but the commercial world makes it all to easy to just buy new one. More people need to stand up and say the very things you have. KUDOS!
I agree we should use what we have . I wore those old clothes of my sisters and she was 8 years older than me. I also sewed so that helped alot. We only have green bags at our store no paper ones. We do have some canvas ones if someone wants to buy them though.
Well said Bunkie. Please print this out and take it back to the store and hand it to the cashier with a smile.... She should know.
The really sad thing is that I am only 17 and I think that the older people are the true GEEN folks. I reuse those plastic bags from the store, I put the dirty kitty litter in it. I reuse almost everytihng on my farm. When we cut the yard we gather all the cutting and put them in the cow lots then i water it and up sports new grass. Saves alot of money by keeping us from having to buy grass seed.
