After reading Philip Stephen Rowland excellent blog entitled We Was Brung Up Proper I came across this post which reminded me of Philip's blog. I am not the author and the post was not credited. It simply said the writer observed an elderly woman at the grocery market. He observed her being gently scolded by the cashier when she requested "Plastic..."

Checking out at the supermarket recently, a young cashier suggested that an elderly woman in front of me should bring her own bags because plastic bags werent good for the environment. The elderly woman kindly accepted this public rebuke and apologized explaining, We didnt have this green thing back in my day .

The clerk responded, Thats the problem. Your generation did not care enough to save the environment for our generation today ."

I was a bit younger than the elderly woman in front of me but the cashier's words caused me to think.

She was right about one thingour generation didnt have the green thing in Our day. So what did we have back then? After some reflection and soul-searching on Our day, heres what I remembered we did have.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, 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. But we didnt have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didnt have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didnt climb into a 75-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didnt have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the babys nappies because we didnt have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 230 volts 50 Hz 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 didnt have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or wireless, 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 Wales. In the kitchen, we blended & stirred by hand because we didnt 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 didnt fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didnt need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But shes right. We didnt have the green thing back then.

We drank from a water 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-fillers 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 didnt have the 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 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didnt need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 24,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest fish and chips shop.

But isnt it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didnt have the green thing back then?