Life in the 50’s and 60's

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
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
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. We had one
electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets
to power a dozen appliances.
But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we
used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not plasric
bubble wrap or Styrofoam peanuts. 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. After school
the kids got together to play baseball, football or hockey
depending on the season. They didn't need an expensive
facility to play in, fancy uniforms, or even a coach. The
idea that parents would get up at 5 am and drive their
kid 40 miles to an arena for hockey practice would have
been inconceivable. 

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 ---- us off.