*How Wasteful the Older Generation Was … *
Author: Unknown
In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag 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. The former generation did not care enough to save our environment.” He was right, that generation didn’t have the green thing in its day. Back then, they returned their 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 they didn’t have the green thing back in that customer’s day.
In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks. But she was right.
They didn’t have the green thing in her day.
Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have the throw-away kind. They 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, they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.
Back then, they 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 hankerchief, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she’s right, they didn’t have the green thing back then.
They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But they 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 rode the school bus instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they 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 isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they didn’t have the green thing back then?
found on FaceBook….circulating the web, but we couldn’t locate who wrote it! If you know, please let me know so we can properly attribute it!
The older generation still did some pretty ungreen things such as become addicted to plastic bags, write everything down on paper (and I mean everything), and worst of all, they shackled themselves to the automobile.
With that being said, the generation from the early 1900’s did a great job with Evansville. I was thinking about this just the other day. If you dig through the Evansville archives you will notice they had light rail going down Franklin Street, youth ball fields across from Bosse Field (enough room and land to bring in those tournaments we want), a L&N transportation hub that was just down the road from the Greyhound Bus Station, and several healthy and large parks.
And then they had the guts to build a ballpark and later on we did finally have the guts to add an arena and two highrises.
That is why Evansville use to prosper, they weren’t afraid of capital improvement projects. But now, there is a 50 + year pall over Evansville and it’s still stronger than ever. The keys were given to us with the message “Just don’t screw up.” And then we did and now we’ve got what we got.
On a side note, I have been looking for a flag like the one above. Does anybody know where I can purchase one of those. I’m also looking for a city of Evansville flag as well.
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