Going Green

Bring Back The Good Old Days

Hi Folks

My oldest girl sent this to me and said I could relate to it as I'm sure a lot of the older wealthy affiliate members will as well.

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to an old lady that she should bring her own bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment.

The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my young days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation didn't care enough to save our environment for future generations."

The old lady said that she was right our generation didn't have the "green thing" back in the day and went on to explain:

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.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable we used brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. .

But, 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 car 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 outside, not in an energy-gobbling machine. The wind and sun dried 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?), and not the monsters you see nowadays.

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 old newspapers, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine 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 public 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.

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 electric outlet in a room, 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?

We of the older generation don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to pee us off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't do mental arithmetic and give change without the cash register telling them how much.

We oldies can still teach the younger generation a thing or two about being green and looking after the environment. Bring back the good old days I say.

Have a great weekend folks and be successful.

Robert Allan