The Green Thing

by Helen 

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologised and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The cashier responded, "That's the problem. Former generations did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right, the older generation didn't care about the green thing in their day.

Back then, they returned their milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilised 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 then.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.

But she was right. They didn't have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby's nappies 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 the clothes. Mum made the clothes for her children and they got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that old lady is right, they didn't have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they 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, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. And they had to get up to change the channel or turn it off (can you imagine?)

In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you. Mum cooked fresh food every day, making pies, baking cakes. They didn't have pre-packaged ready made meals back then. 

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 petrol 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 she's right, they didn't have the green thing back then.

They 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 their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they 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 bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service. They had 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 a friend.

They didn't have kindles or i-pads or a screen and a console to amuse themselves, they had books and real friends, not virtual ones.

The current generation laments that the older generation did not take care of the environment because we didn't have the green thing when we were growing up.....

~Author Unknown~

Sent to me by a friend born in the 1950's - as was I.... but we didn't have the Green Thing back then....