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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 apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. The former generation 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, 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 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 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 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. Kids 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. 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 mail, 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 gasoline 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 streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead of turning their moms 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 joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back then?
~Author Unknown~
As I was saying... I started to think that if we (as humans) are going to attempt to slow or stop global climate change and improve our environment, "being green" can't be a new trend, it needs to be a way of life. I struggle with this on a daily basis. At stores I have to nicely refuse plastic bags and hold my tongue whenever they ask if I am sure I don't want my meat in plastic or do I want my apples in a separate bag so they don't get bruised. At friend's bridal or baby showers I feel as though I have to defend myself when others ask why I am saving wrapping paper, why not throw it away. It makes me think, before wrapping paper existed, what were presents wrapped it? Well, I am guessing it was extra pieces of cloth that were then reused for rags or somewhere else in the household, or they may not have been wrapped at all. And yes, it feels good when friends tell me that I am doing a good thing and that there need to be more people like me. But, what is "like me"?I know that there are thousands of new items that make life "more convenient" because you use it and throw it away (I would rather work a little harder make things for myself, fix them for myself and clean them with some good old elbow grease). Out of sight, out of mind. But that mindset is so ignorant and wrong it isn't funny. There is no out of sight out of mind- there is trash on the roadsides, "stuff" filling our homes and landfills bursting at the seams. The trash we created it, it's ours, and we need to take responsibility for it. I guess it would be good if more people were "like me" - but how do we change peoples attitudes and viewpoints about consumerism and waste? I guess the only thing I can do is be myself and keeping uttering the age old phrase, "the best things in life aren't things".
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