RobH1
Well-Known Member
This article was forwarded to me by a friend. I do not know where it originated from so cannot acknowledge the author.
Subject: Fw: HOW THE GREY-BEARDS HAVE DESTROYED THE PLANET. A RANT
Subject: Fw: HOW THE GREY-BEARDS HAVE DESTROYED THE PLANET. A RANT
How the greybeards have ruined this planet!!
HOW TRUE THIS IS!!!!
Checking out at the supermarket, 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 cashier 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, lemonade bottles and beer bottles
to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed and
sterilised 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 shops bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we
re-used for numerous things, most memorable besides household bags for
rubbish, 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
scribbling. 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 a lift in every
supermarket, shop and office building. We walked to the local shop and
didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go
half a mile.
But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's Terry Towelling nappies because we
didn't have the throwaway kind . We dried clothes on a line, not in an
energy-gobbling machine burning up 3 kilowatts .. wind and solar power
really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids had
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 radio or TV in the house - not a TV in every
room and the TV had a small screen the size of a big handkerchief
(remember them?), not a screen the size of Tasmania 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 petrol just to cut the lawn. We pushed the 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 tap or 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 bus and kids rode their bikes to school or
walked instead of turning their Mums into a 24-hour taxi service in
the family's £50,000 People Carrier which cost 25% of the price of 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 kms out in space to find the nearest pub!
But isn't it sad that 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-arse young person...
We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to
piss us off...especially when the advice is being offered by a
tattooed, multiple pierced smartarse who can't work out the change
without the cash register telling them how much it is!
Here endeth the bloody lesson. Have a nice day!
