Pixiedog456005 Loc: Maryland

Talking with a young lady accusing older people of not being green!

We've been green!

"Back in the day",

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 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 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 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?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart #ss young person.

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

mistred64 Loc: Grayslake, illinois

Never gave it much thought but you are right on.

CamT Loc: La Porte, Texas

We did all of that and never gave it a second thought😉

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

My that was a nice trip back in time Pix. Well said.

Just want to add those grocery bags were saved for placing the home made cookies on when they came out of the oven. I can still see them today.

Pixiedog456005 Loc: Maryland

I'll bet you can smell'em too!
Peanut butter, chocolate chip, soft sugar, rasin oatmeal.....
Where did I sent down my cold milk!

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

Sure bring up more memories.

Foodfisher Loc: SO. Cal coast

It was my job to make the crisscrosses with a fork on the peanutbutter cookies. Labor of love.

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

And how often did you lick the fork?

Foodfisher Loc: SO. Cal coast

Once. Mom had the the fastest backhand I've ever run across.

CamT Loc: La Porte, Texas

Now that there's funny, another memory and lesson learned I've been on recieving end of one of those

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

Going with Cam on that one. Then again it wasn't me on the end of those fingers.

And here i thought the Nuns were quick.

Pixiedog456005 Loc: Maryland

Got the wooden spoon huh?

mistred64 Loc: Grayslake, illinois

Wooden ruler was my mom's weapon of choice.

mistred64 Loc: Grayslake, illinois

Today's kids are denied those good childhood memories.

Catfish hunter Loc: Riggins idaho (Paradise)

So true. Today all it would take is a flip of a switch to shut the internet down and the world would come to a complete standstill. You think a pandemic is bad? Turn off social media for a month and most folks would curl up and die. Not me. I was raised with that wooden spoon and the knowledge to survive. 👍