The Green Thing

The clothesline and the BS line.

In the line at the grocery 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.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, cold drink bottles and beer

bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the factory 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 shop and office building.

We walked to the grocery shop and didn't climb into a

300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But he was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's nappies 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 clerk 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 Val dam.

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 fuel

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 he'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 blunt.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the tram or 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 plug 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

km s out in space in order to find the nearest pizza shop.

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 show this to a  selfish old person who

needs a lesson in conservation.