[PPRAANet] We didn't have the green thing back then

[DickT-W0RAA]

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?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in 
conservation from a smartass young person.