- Joined
- Jul 11, 2004
- Messages
- 1,179
- Points
- 103
I was in the food store yesterday and the cashier told me my plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
I apologized and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
she retorted, " That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."
As I said love, our generation didn't have the green thing in its day, but then again we did returned milk bottles, pop bottles and beer bottles to the shop. 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 wanted a loaf or a bottle of milk.
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. The 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 I was still 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. Plus the TV had a small screen the size of a pocket handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen taking up half the wall space.
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 of 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 where you run for miles and do go any were.
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 plastic bottle every time we want a drink.
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, while kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their parents 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. 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 fish and chip shop.
But isn't it sad, that the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were, just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
I apologized and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
she retorted, " That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."
As I said love, our generation didn't have the green thing in its day, but then again we did returned milk bottles, pop bottles and beer bottles to the shop. 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 wanted a loaf or a bottle of milk.
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. The 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 I was still 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. Plus the TV had a small screen the size of a pocket handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen taking up half the wall space.
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 of 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 where you run for miles and do go any were.
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 plastic bottle every time we want a drink.
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, while kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their parents 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. 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 fish and chip shop.
But isn't it sad, that the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were, just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
