In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags 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. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."
He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
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.
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 300-horsepower machine 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, 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; 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?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.
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 a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline 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 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, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
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 electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we 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 we didn't have the green thing back then.
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16 comments:
SER... I loved it, there has got to be 100's of other examples of "We didn't have the green thing back in my day" but boy you sure hit the key ones. Now why am I working in the renewable energy sector?
Sorry, I didn't notice the cap light thingy was on.
Hey you are talking about my youth! I can remember my dad inviting our milkman at Christmas for a 'shot'. That was his gift from us. I walked the whole length of Carlisle from State to Rapids twice a day for school. Once it was 4 times in one day because I had two different shoes on. The thing is we never thought about it. I remember sitting in front of the radio to listen to 'The Squeeking Door' and Billie the Brownie. You did a great job, Ser!
Now let's be fair, Ser. The demise of the milkman has drastically reduced the birthrate resulting in slower population growth and less resource consumption.
I walked from Durand to Park High and back every day. Not because I was green... I was too "thrifty" to take the mini-bus and spend that buck my dad squeezed out of his wallet every morning. (remember those rattletraps?)
My dad's wallet was way more of a vault than yours, jed. We need to help you get an official "blue" sign in. It is fairly easy... after all, you passed the initiation. ;>
OMG Sassa, my dad did the same thing! We had no toys or remote controls that required batteries. We had one phone in the house and for a number of years, many people shared the same line. As for walking, the skating rink of Hamilton was 5 blocks away and we never gave it a thought about walking down there. You just did it.
That being said, I wonder what our Grandparents could put in this blog.
Our phone was a "party line" for a number of years, too. We had a milkman, and an egg lady who came once a week with farm fresh eggs. There was some old guy who pushed a cart down the middle of the street in the summer yelling out the names of vegetables and fruits he had for sale.
Our house did not have much of a yard, but the neighbor's was huge. Every spring, my mom and Ann, the neighbor lady, dug up a huge section of that yard and started their vegetable garden. Both our families ate off of that.
My mom had one of those new-fangled electric washers with the manual rollers on top to squeeze out water. Clothes hung outdoors or in the basement to dry.
I know it's fun to look back on and remember all of the good times, but it had to be a heck of a lot harder to get things done back then. We're spoiled today.
Thanks KK.. I know, you have told me to jump in the pool and stop dipping my toes in the water, my thingy is brown, you guys are all orange... Can you help me, I know I am high maintenance, sorry?
Remember when the garbage dudes actually came up to your house to get the cans?
Orbs, yes it was much harder to do stuff back in the day, but I think more quality time was spent with the family. Everyone knew their place and job.
Thanks Ser for starting a fruitful and rememberable conversation
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BTW...Hale, I just got that comment... that was funny. OK guys, I'm slow.
I don't know if I'd admit my "thingy" was brown. :o
We'd be happy to help you out, jed. (with the registration process, that is)
1st step is to look on the left side of our home page. There is a link to create a google account. Click it and fill in the info. They ask email, password, location and birthday. Make sure you remember what you've used for a password. Once your email is registered, we can't help you change your password. Watch that cap lock... it matters.
2nd step is to send an email to the sheriff. The link is on the home page, left sidebar, near the top. The sheriff will send an invitation to your email address. You open that email and click the link to confirm.
If you run into problems, just ask. We'll talk you though it.
Thanks KK... you're a sweetie pie. I'll do my best, but no promises, we are in the never, never tech land.
BTW, so my thingy(icon) is brown, just be glad you have one(icon)that is orange,remember you had that telescope or whatever it was cleaned out and "reassembled" by Hale. I did not see any shrinkage from that thing.
So I'll do my best...wish me luck everyone.. I will look forward to hearing back from the "sheriff" lol
hi gang,
Cheery picked examples make any age a wonderland.
Nearly everyone used coal to heat their homes. There were no particulate traps, and all the smoke spewed into the air. The sky above our cities was yellow. We didn't have a green thing back then.
There used to be a bird called a Carrier Pigeon. Flocks were so abundant he darkened the sky when they flew over head. Our ladies loved their bright feathers for hats so the birds were hunted to extinction. We didn't have a green thing back then.
If we travel, we avoided Gary Indiana and other steel producers if we could. The sky was yellow and dreary from horizon to horizon. You smelled it long before you saw it. We didn't have a green thing back then.
Our rivers and lakes were our toilets. We blithely dumped mercury and poisons into them, then ate the fish and rubbed our bellies because it was good. It got so bad one of the rivers back East actually caught on fire. Hey, no matter, we didn't have a green thing back then.
We practiced crawling under our desks when a siren went off. We foolishly believed an Atomic war could be lived through. We dumped nuclear waste at our bomb making sites, polluted the ground water under them, and nearly lost Detroit due to a nuclear accident at a test lab outside of the city. We didn't have a green thing b ck then.
Lots of examples. But I agree, it was a time of innocence. This doesn't mean we weren't just stumbling along in the dark. Still, many of the examples would be good to reintroduce. While somethings we did were very bad for the environment, not all were.
SER, you and I are the same age...we've seen a lot of change.
A lot of disposables have come along...and everyone embraced them. Now we see the folly of our ways.
Good does of cold water there, Huck. I remember the Cuyahoga River catching on fire. Decades later and it is still one of the first things people think about when they hear Cleveland.
We have gained a lot of efficiencies and improved lots of pollution controls (remember leaded gasoline?) At the same time, we have drastically increased overall production of goods and there are more disposable products. The problems change as time goes on.
The demise of the milkman has drastically reduced the birthrate
You're killing Boppster...laugh'in.
I remember when Progressive Dairy use to deliver the milk to our side porch. My mom would put a note in one of the bottles of what she wanted to order. Winter was different, get the milk before it froze to much, the paper cover and plug would be standing about a 1in out the top of the bottles!
(remember leaded gasoline?)
In the “olden days” there were 2 types of gasoline; there was “Regular” or “Ethyl” Both contained lead. Lead was a lubricate and it was an additive. Engines where built to sloppy and would get to hot, lead helped keep them cooler. The real difference was Octane percentage. High compression engines needed a high Octane which Ethyl had.
When Unleaded came out the cost of gas was higher. WTF, they stopped adding lead and charged you more...still whizzes me off!
Now Wisconsin has something like 11 different blends of gas.
Back then you didn’t go to the ‘gas’ station, you went to the ‘filling station’ and the attendant came out with a uniform on and serviced your vehicle. Checked the oil, tire pressure if you requested, filled it up and washed your windows. Ahhhh, the good ole days Beejay!
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