The Green Thing
Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the 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 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.
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 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. 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 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 we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then? How on earth did we all survive?
Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person.
Remember: Don't make old people mad.
We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
2 Days After Sherrif Chuck Wrights Comments Property owner fends off intruders with shotgun in Pauline
Deputies: Property owner fends off intruders with shotgun in Pauline | GoUpstate.com
Published: Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 4:44 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 4:44 p.m.
The Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office is in the early stages of investigating a shooting involving a property owner and two intruders in Pauline.
A property owner was inside a storage building on Miller Town road when two people walked in, according to a statement from the sheriff's office. The property owner challenged the two suspects, who apparently did not have permission to be there. The property owner pointed a shotgun at the suspects. As one of the suspects reached into his waist belt, the property owner shot the man in the upper left arm, according to the sheriff's office.
As the pair started to flee, one yelled, “Get him,” and the other turned back at the property owner, who fired a second shot, which missed. Both suspects are in the custody of the sheriff's office. Details are expected to be released shortly on them.
The shooting takes place two days after Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright encouraged female residents to get concealed weapons permits in order to protect themselves. The comments came at a news conference about an attempted rape in Milliken Park.
Wright said the man accused in that assault was fortunate that a person with a concealed weapons permit wasn't around during the attack, saying someone could have put the “animal” down. Wright's comments have since made headlines around the world, and set off a flurry of interest in concealed weapons classes.
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