The meaning of "Being Green"
 

BEING GREEN...

Checking out at the grocery store, the young cashier suggested to the much 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 younger days."

The young 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.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we re-used 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 vehicle 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 amperage at 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" backin 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 or subway or a local train and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van—which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing." 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 that 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 smart-alec young person.

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to tick us off—especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smart-alec who can't make change without the cash register telling him or her how much.

The end!

Absolutely agree!! Most anybody growing up in the country or on a farm knew all about how to recycle and reuse, but nobody called it that.

All wonderful points. I am feeling empowered to go out and meet any young whippersnapper who wants to take on green. Thanks for the memories :)

BTW: Add to the list you drove the same car for 10 years or til it fell apart.

Fantastic!!

If you want to know what it really means to be green, you're just going to have to ask Kermit! :throwtomatoes:

In his case it means eating flies & dating a pig!

Kermit The Frog
 

For your enjoyment:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4ZxxHbJGbY]The Muppet Show: Kermit - "Bein' Green" - YouTube[/ame]

Sometimes links don't show up:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4ZxxHbJGbY]The Muppet Show: Kermit - "Bein' Green" - YouTube[/ame]

.........

Joe, you must have missed the times that I've explained why the links don't show up like they didn't in your post. You have to use the "SHARE" link below the YouTube video to get the address that will work. The address you copied at the top of the browser won't show up in MSIE browsers until you quote for a reply, like showing above!

in my opinion, being green is more about making a statement about "green" VS accomplishing anything. All the so called green marketing is slanted toward toward making that statement.

Kinda like global warming.

They both are akin to measuring a passing cloud!!!

btk

Your cat has a green hat! Is it a Kermit outfit?

:BigApplause:

Thanks joe. I'll have to remember that as I was at a computer that blocks out youtube so i couldn't get onto youtube to share. DUH!!!!!

I now understand why,

Joe

Couldn't agree more, billethkid.