Was going thro my email inbox deleting old stuff and found one that someone sent me in 2011. I like it and guess there may be one or two of you who like it as well.....here it is, its called The Green Thing In the queue at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags werent good for the environment. The woman apologized to him and explained, We didnt have the green thing back in my day. The clerk responded, Thats our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment. She was right -- our generation didnt have the green thing in its day. Back then, we returned milk bottles, Pop and beer bottles to the shop. The shop 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 didnt have the green thing back in our day. We walked up stairs, because we didnt have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didnt climb into a 2 litre machine every time we had to go two turnings away. But she was right. We didnt have the green thing in our day. Back then, we washed the babys nappies because we didnt have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 240 volts -- instead 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 young lady is right; we didnt 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 Yorkshire. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didnt 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 didnt fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didnt need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But shes right; we didnt have the green thing back then. We drank from a water 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 didnt have the green thing back then. Back then, people took the bus or a tram 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 didnt 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 isnt it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didnt have the green thing back then? Please forward this on to another selfish older person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart mouthed young person who has been taught to blame everyone else for the consequences of their own actions. The Green Thing
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 14:43:13 +0000