Are the people who advocate "going green" today just a bunch of bloody hypocrites?
Being Green
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 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
schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books
provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribbling's.
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 smart ass young person...
We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take
much to piss us off.
Being Green
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 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
schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books
provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribbling's.
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 smart ass young person...
We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take
much to piss us off.
