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 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?
