The Green thing...
(Not really a joke)
In the queue at Tesco, the young cashier told the older woman that she should
bring her own reusable grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the
environment.......
The woman apologized and explained,
"We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The assistant responded, "That's what's caused our problems today.
Your generation wasn't green and did not care enough to save our environment."
He was right, that generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, they returned their milk bottles, lemonade bottles and beer bottles to the shop.
The sshop then 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 that customer's day.
In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every store and
office building. They walked to the grocers and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower
machine every time they had to go two streets away..
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 a gobbling machine burning up 220 volts - wind
and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new
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 Wales. .
In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines
to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the post, they used
a wadded up old newspaper 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 water 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 walked , instead
of turning their mothers 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 the nearest pizza hut..
But isn't it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they
didn't have the green thing back then?