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 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 reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribbling. Then we were able to personalize our books.
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 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 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. Or shaved for decades with the same straight razor.
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 burger joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we older folks were just because we didn't have "the green thing"back then?
Please forward this on to another selfish older person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person.
This is not to disparage the young for being ignorant and arrogant, cause we were all like that (or meybe most of us still is)... remember the old saying meant to convey forgiveness/tolerance and the need for guidance/responsibility of guiding of the young: "They're just kids... they don't know nothin!"
nor to blame the current state of the world on the jung, that would just be stupid.
But just for reference...... Back then it wasn't called "green" or "sustainable" it was called "living within your means" or "being practical" or "being responsible" or horrors of all horrors "having common sense!!!!!!" I'm told this is insulting to some younguns today
I recall:
shoveling snow
putting 100 hours of labor into a junk car and driving it for 3 years (greener than a Hybrid by any measure)
pushing a lawn mower (as the comedian joked "America is the land of riding lawn mowers and stationary bicycles!")
hoeing a garden
swimming in a pond (no filter, no electricity, no polluting chlorine)
getting your snacks from a field or a tree
non-supervised, non-organized recreation
skating without ice skates
sliding down a hill on anything but a sled
pulling weeds by hand
dandelion salad
freaking out the first time I ever saw a bean picker, what a marvelously complicated piece of machinery
hanging out with the migrant worker kids (they didn't view themselves as poor, oppressed, or disenfranchised........ huh....weird)
customing your bicycle with an old can of spray paint and tape, or swapping parts with your buddy's bike, instead of whining to get a new one, IIRC whinning often resulted in pain
Bicycles and shoes were the primary form of transportation
half of your recreation was often doing chores with your buddies, cause "everyone" had chores to do before they could play (reeks of social justice and community organizing doesn't it....)
No wonder I have so little "compassion" for the "poor" and "disenfranchised..."
No wonder people hate hearing about "attitude..."
..........
that has long been a fantasy of mine...... 
tell me what you plan on wearing....... 
