Older Generation didn't have the "green thing"

[TallTrees]

Sent to me by a very old friend who enjoys a joke ~  regularly!!    Wow how things have changed

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery 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 earlier days."

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

The older lady said that she was right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady 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 besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. 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 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 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?), not a screen the size of the state of New South Wales. 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 wadded up old newspapers 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 blade 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 a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing." 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 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?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation 

from a smarty who can't give change without the cash register information.

[MI5]

So very true....

[jonsie]

This is all so true. I've just been informed by telephone that the flu vaccination for over 65'S isn't available due to a national shortage. No question of rebooking my appointment, not an option, advised to enquire with my local Boots or Tesco pharmacies.

Apparently once stocks are available, the new batch will consist of a euthanasia serum designed to kill you off before you need the flu jab three following year!

Think of the benefits. Zero carbon footprint for the ever expanding over 65's group. More room on the earth for all the third world countries to have 15 kids, taught in the ways of 'green'.

You may mock........

[TallTrees]

YYYYYEEEEEESSSS @jonsie

Love it!

Thought for a minute you were reading the letter from my GP!  

[sheepdog]

@jonsie bonus being, that solves the pension crisis 

Sheepdog in "Logan's Run" mode

[jonsie]

So.....stay away from injections and prescription drugs. Eat dog food, PAL......prolongs active life 

[dgilbert2]

An interesting read as always @TallTrees , thank you 

[Cleoriff]

As one of the older generation, we also didn't have microwavable meals in plastic containers covered with cardboard sleeves. We had food cooked freshly every evening. My mum and dad had a fridge eventually, until then we stored food in a larder.

We didn't have online shopping, we walked to the shops with our kids in prams/pushchairs and stocked our shopping in a large bag on the back of the pushchair or  a wire tray under the pram.

We collected used pop bottles and returned them to the shop so they could be washed and used again. We got 3d for 12 bottles. The milkman would collect our milk bottles every morning to be recycled and used again.

We used glasses for drinking out of. Nothing like plastic disposable drink containers were available to us.

We didn't have plastic straws, they were paper

I never used disposable nappies for my lads. In fact it was a 'competition' to see who had the whitest terry towelling nappies blowing on the line.

From a medical perspective, we didn't have the same infections we have now.

I worked in theatres in 1963 and if it was hot we opened the windows. (yes really!!)

We were also responsible for washing surgical instruments and autoclaving them in a tiny machine within theatre. Nothing like the vast autoclave systems available today.

So it's not our generation who are responsible for the destruction of the planet.

We can blame that on 'progress and convenience'

Cleo 'stepping down from her soapbox'......

[TallTrees]

Well said @Cleoriff

[TallTrees]

Thanks @dgilbert2
I liked it too😊