Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Old Folks And Being Green...!

Bet you have had a conversation like this one at some point in recent history. Shows just how messed up we "old folks" are!

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much 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, 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. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.
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 in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing." 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?

Any of these things ring a bell with you? I know that I can remember just how many of these things were part of our everyday life! The only difference is that we didn't call it "being green", We called it "common sense!"

Coffee out on the patio again today. Anyone have an extra donut?

9 comments:

Mamahen said...

Remember everyne f them either from our home or grandma's :)) patio sounds great... 35 For a high here today...Got some old fashioned glazed donuts..will they work :))

Chickenmom said...

Us old timers will have an easier time of it when things get really, really bad. We know how to cope - kids today have no clue whatsoever.
Save two of those glazed donuts for me, Mamahen. I'm hungry! 8 degrees here....

linda m said...

I remember everyone of those things. There are days I wish we could go back to the "good old days" as I get so tired of my electronics or electrical things not working properly. Right now I feel like I was born into the wrong generation - take me back Calgon. 8 degrees here this morning.

Dizzy-Dick said...

I am one of those old persons that remember all those things and more. I lived through the change from radio to TV. I remember all the great shows on radio, Straight Arrow and the Lone Ranger were two of my favorites. And guess what, there was only a half hour of music on the radio during the day.

Unknown said...

Remember most of those things from a personal nature and the rest from my grands or parents. Those things drive me nuts today, how we can be blamed for things we really had no part of. Oh and the problems with our indulged children in this age is the fault of the grandparents of those children too by the way... WE set their parents up to indulge THEIR children.
Thank you for your reminders though.
Coffee at my desk at the family business all day today

HermitJim said...

Hey Mamahen...
Funny how much we can remember from the "old days", but they really weren't that long ago!

Regular glazed is fine by me!

Thanks for coming by this morning!



Hey Phyllis...
I reckon that you are right about that. Going with the flow, so to speak!

Thanks for the visit today!



Hey Linda M...
The one thing we can count on with electronics, is that they will start acting up!

Thanks for dropping by today!



Hey Dizzy...
You probably remember when FM first became popular instead of AM radio, right?

Listened to many of those radio shows myself!

Thanks for coming over this morning!



Hey Justdifferent...
Right you are about sharing some of the blame. I reckon that every generation wants to make things better for their kids compared to what they had.

Still, there are some good points to be made for a simpler life style, don't you think?

Thanks for coming over today!



Annie Mouse said...

Wool blankets on the bed, open the windows for fresh air, wash the aluminum foil and reuse it, soda a treat for special occasions. Cake? birthdays only. Meat as a flavoring, not an ingredient. Pies at Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and one gift for each kid. One. And we were happy to pass on our out grown clothes to siblings and cousins, and get them too. shoes only for school, church, and going to town. When my aunt got a tv, we all went over and crowded into the little living room to watch Red Skelton. A tiny screen on the tv, wall to wall people in the small room, sitting on chairs and the floor, standing in the kitchen doorway to see.

Annie Mouse said...

Wool blankets on the bed, open the windows for fresh air, wash the aluminum foil and reuse it, soda a treat for special occasions. Cake? birthdays only. Meat as a flavoring, not an ingredient. Pies at Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and one gift for each kid. One. And we were happy to pass on our out grown clothes to siblings and cousins, and get them too. shoes only for school, church, and going to town. When my aunt got a tv, we all went over and crowded into the little living room to watch Red Skelton. A tiny screen on the tv, wall to wall people in the small room, sitting on chairs and the floor, standing in the kitchen doorway to see.

Unknown said...

My big issue is that in "the old days" when things were broken, it was cost effcient to repair them. Now it seems as though it is always cheaper to just buy a new gadget. Really burns my biscuits!