CaptJohn
10-08-2012, 07:31 PM
Remember these?
A friend sent this to me. I'm sure you all remember (well, most of you anyway!). Enjoy!
What else do you remember?
===
(The last line sums this up quite
nicely)
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 young clerk
responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to
save our environment or 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 truely recycled.
But we
didn't have the green thing back in our day.
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 schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property,
(the
books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings.
Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.
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
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 throwaway 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 23,000 miles out in space in order to find
the
nearest burger 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.
We don't like being
old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to p*** us
off.
--
A friend sent this to me. I'm sure you all remember (well, most of you anyway!). Enjoy!
What else do you remember?
===
(The last line sums this up quite
nicely)
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 young clerk
responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to
save our environment or 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 truely recycled.
But we
didn't have the green thing back in our day.
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 schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property,
(the
books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings.
Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.
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
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 throwaway 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 23,000 miles out in space in order to find
the
nearest burger 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.
We don't like being
old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to p*** us
off.
--