This may have been around for a while, but these things can be worth
resurrecting every now and then, if that's the case...


Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older
woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags
weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized 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." She 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.

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 schoolbooks. 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 throwaway
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 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 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 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
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?

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to ****
us off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't
make change without the cash register telling them how much.

--

-Mike-

Excuse me Mike, but I seem to recall seeing that same rant when WE were
the younger generation.


--
There are no stupid questions, but there are lots of stupid answers.

Larry W. - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar. org

Larry W wrote:
Excuse me Mike, but I seem to recall seeing that same rant when WE
were the younger generation.

Maybe similar, but I know we used paper bags for book covers when I was in
school, and a lot of the other points. I seem to remember the rants of my
parents being more about the music that we listened to at the time.

--

-Mike-

On Wed, 22 Jan 2014 18:46:10 -0500, "Mike Marlow"
wrote:

Larry W wrote:
Excuse me Mike, but I seem to recall seeing that same rant when WE
were the younger generation.

Maybe similar, but I know we used paper bags for book covers when I was in
school, and a lot of the other points. I seem to remember the rants of my
parents being more about the music that we listened to at the time.

Hmm. I didn't walk six miles through three feet of snow, uphill both
ways, to school. May parents did. (well, they did grow up in the
UP

I didn't go to school with holes in my clothes (though I came home
with enough). My parents did.

I didn't go to school with holes in my shoes. My parents did.

Well, it was more than the music, anyway. ;-)

In article ,
Mike Marlow wrote:
Larry W wrote:
Excuse me Mike, but I seem to recall seeing that same rant when WE
were the younger generation.

Maybe similar, but I know we used paper bags for book covers when I was in
school, and a lot of the other points. I seem to remember the rants of my
parents being more about the music that we listened to at the time.


You're right, I remember making the book covers and the music criticism
too. I was speaking more about the general nature of intergenerational
rants (of which I am often guilty too) rather than the details. I should
have made that more clear!



--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation
with the average voter. (Winston Churchill)

Larry W. - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar. org

Larry W wrote:
In article ,
Mike Marlow wrote:
Larry W wrote:
Excuse me Mike, but I seem to recall seeing that same rant when WE
were the younger generation.

Maybe similar, but I know we used paper bags for book covers when I
was in school, and a lot of the other points. I seem to remember
the rants of my parents being more about the music that we listened
to at the time.


You're right, I remember making the book covers and the music
criticism too. I was speaking more about the general nature of
intergenerational rants (of which I am often guilty too) rather than
the details. I should have made that more clear!

I think that intergenerational rant is just a right of passage - isn't it?
So... it feels good to be entitled to something that doesn't have tax
dollars tied to it.

--

-Mike-