SHOW:
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- or go back to the newest paste.
| 1 | In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should | |
| 2 | bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren't good for the | |
| 3 | environment. | |
| 4 | ||
| 5 | The woman apologized to him and explained, | |
| 6 | "We didn't have the green thing back in my day." | |
| 7 | ||
| 8 | The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. | |
| 9 | The former generation did not care enough to save our environment." | |
| 10 | ||
| 11 | He was right, that generation didn't have the green thing in its day. | |
| 12 | Back then, they returned their milk bottles, | |
| 13 | soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. | |
| 14 | The store sent them back to the plant to be washed | |
| 15 | and sterilized and refilled, | |
| 16 | so it could use the same bottles over and over. | |
| 17 | So they really were recycled. | |
| 18 | ||
| 19 | But they didn't have the green thing back in that customer's day. | |
| 20 | ||
| 21 | 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. | |
| 22 | ||
| 23 | But she was right. They didn't have the green thing in her day. | |
| 24 | ||
| 25 | Back then, they washed the baby's 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 the clothes. | |
| 26 | Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, | |
| 27 | not always brand-new clothing. | |
| 28 | ||
| 29 | But that old lady is right, they didn't have the green thing back in her day. | |
| 30 | ||
| 31 | Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house - | |
| 32 | not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, | |
| 33 | not a screen the size of the state of Montana . | |
| 34 | ||
| 35 | In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because | |
| 36 | they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you. | |
| 37 | When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, | |
| 38 | they used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, | |
| 39 | not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. | |
| 40 | ||
| 41 | Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline | |
| 42 | just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. | |
| 43 | ||
| 44 | They exercised by working so they didn't need to go to a health club | |
| 45 | to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. | |
| 46 | ||
| 47 | But she's right, they didn't have the green thing back then. | |
| 48 | ||
| 49 | They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottleevery time they had a drink of water. | |
| 50 | ||
| 51 | ||
| 52 | They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, | |
| 53 | and they replaced the razor blades in a razor | |
| 54 | instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. | |
| 55 | ||
| 56 | But they didn't have the green thing back then. | |
| 57 | ||
| 58 | 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. | |
| 59 | ||
| 60 | They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. | |
| 61 | 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 joint. | |
| 62 | ||
| 63 | But isn't it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks | |
| 64 | were just because they didn't have the green thing back then? |
