Checking out at a grocery store, a young cashier girl suggested to an elderly 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 years." 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, people 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 they didn't have the green thing back in their day. Grocery stores bagged groceries in brown paper bags, that folks 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 the books provided for our use by the school were not defaced by scribblings. Then the kids were able to personalize their books. But too bad they didn't do the green thing back then. People walked up stairs, because there wasn't an escalator or an elevator in every store and office building. People walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks. But that young girl was right. They didn't have the green thing in their day. Back then, mothers washed babyies' diapers because they didn't have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry clothes way back when. Kids frequently got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady was right -- they didn't have the green thing back then. Back then, there was one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a large handkerchief (remember those?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, moms blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything for them. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But that young girl was right -- they didn't have the green thing back then. People drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But they 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. There was one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they 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 those old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back then?
