Anyone over the age of 40 should read this, Checking out at
the supermarket recently, the cashier suggested I should bring my own carrier
bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. I apologized and
explained, "We didn't have this going green thing back in my days."
The cashier responded, "That's the problem today. Your generation didn't
care enough back then to save our environment for future generations."
She was right about one thing -- our generation didn't have
the going green thing in "Our" day.
So what did we do back then...? After some reflection and
soul-searching on "Our" day I remembered we did have.... Back then,
we returned milk bottles, fizzy pop 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 repeatedly. So they really were recycled, they
even paid us too do it.
But we didn't have the green thing back in our day. We
walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator or lift in every store
and office building. We walked to the supermarket and didn't climb into a car
every time we had to go two minutes up the road. But she was right. We didn't
have the going 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 electric
machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes
back in our 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
going 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 England. In the kitchen, we blended
chopped and stirred by hand because we didn't have machines to do everything
for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used screwed up
old newspapers to protect it, not foam or bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't
fire up an engine and burn gas just to cut the lawn. We used a non-engine
version mower that ran on elbow grease. We exercised by doing things so we
didn't need to go to a fitness club to run on treadmills that operate on
electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the going green thing back then.
We drank from a water fountain when we were thirsty instead
of using 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 going green thing back then.
Back then, people took the bus, and kids rode their bikes to
school or walked instead of turning their mums into a 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 a satellite miles out in space in order to find the nearest restaurant.
Isn't it sad the current generation talks about how wasteful
we older folks were just because we didn't have the going green thing back in
our day, OR DID WE?
