Post by grindle on Dec 16, 2011 8:52:15 GMT
this is a bit americanized, but it would have taken too long to change it all 
Folks need to put
things in proper perspective.
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. 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. 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
pizza
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. Remember this…Don’t make
old people mad. We don’t like being old in the first
place, so it doesn’t
take much to tick us off.
Folks need to put
things in proper perspective.
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. 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. 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
pizza
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. Remember this…Don’t make
old people mad. We don’t like being old in the first
place, so it doesn’t
take much to tick us off.
