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 got our drinks and hamburgers at the A&W drive-in in glass mugs and plastic baskets that were cleaned and re-used, not the piles of Styrofoam and paper in today's fast food chains.
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, was not defaced by our scribblings so they could be reused each year. The meat department cut every steak to order and wrapped it in white paper. No Styrofoam containers with absorbent pads and clear plastic covers for the meat back then. But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We washed the dishes and dried them by hand. 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 car tires were recapped and reused not thrown away when the tread got low. Shoes were repaired and re-soled when they got worn out. We wore jeans that my mom patched and re-patched in the knees whenever we managed to get them ripped. She even put patches on the elbows of our shirts when they wore out. Almost everything in the grocery store came in glass jars with standard "Ball" canning lids so they could be re-used to can home grown garden items simply by replacing the lids.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a clothes 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 lady was 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 movie theater. There was only one fan in the house and you made it into an air conditioner by draping wet towels over the back of it.
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 wanted 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, as kids we rode our bikes to school or walked instead of turning our parents into a 24-hour taxi service. We had two electrical outlets in each room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. All meals were cooked right in the kitchen without a microwave and you were lucky if you ate a meal outside of the house once a month. We got fresh vegetables and fruit only one season each year - in the summer. The rest of the year you ate fruit out of a can or just did without, now fruit is shipped daily from all over the world and bananas are ripe all year long. But we didn't have the green thing back then.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 got our drinks and hamburgers at the A&W drive-in in glass mugs and plastic baskets that were cleaned and re-used, not the piles of Styrofoam and paper in today's fast food chains.
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, was not defaced by our scribblings so they could be reused each year. The meat department cut every steak to order and wrapped it in white paper. No Styrofoam containers with absorbent pads and clear plastic covers for the meat back then. But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We washed the dishes and dried them by hand. 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 car tires were recapped and reused not thrown away when the tread got low. Shoes were repaired and re-soled when they got worn out. We wore jeans that my mom patched and re-patched in the knees whenever we managed to get them ripped. She even put patches on the elbows of our shirts when they wore out. Almost everything in the grocery store came in glass jars with standard "Ball" canning lids so they could be re-used to can home grown garden items simply by replacing the lids.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a clothes 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 lady was 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 movie theater. There was only one fan in the house and you made it into an air conditioner by draping wet towels over the back of it.
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 wanted 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, as kids we rode our bikes to school or walked instead of turning our parents into a 24-hour taxi service. We had two electrical outlets in each room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. All meals were cooked right in the kitchen without a microwave and you were lucky if you ate a meal outside of the house once a month. We got fresh vegetables and fruit only one season each year - in the summer. The rest of the year you ate fruit out of a can or just did without, now fruit is shipped daily from all over the world and bananas are ripe all year long. But we didn't have the green thing back then.
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