The Green Thing

[gunman42782]

I "lifted" this from another forum.  I think it is just too good not to share. 

In the line at the store, the cashier told me that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.

I apologized to her and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”

That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in my day. Back then,
they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to
the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and
refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But they didn’t have the green thing back my day.

In my 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 I'm right. They didn’t have the green thing in our 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 again, I'm right, they didn’t have the green thing back in my 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 pizza dish,
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 wadded up 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.

Nope, 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 they had a drink of water. They
refilled 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 we didn’t have the green thing back then.


Back then, people took the streetcar 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.

No sirree, we didn't didn't have the green thing back then!

Sad indeed...........................

[twyacht]

We drank out of garden hoses, didn't wear helmets on our bikes, rode in the backs of pick up trucks, picked fresh fruit off the trees, used our pocket knives to "divvy" the wedges,....drank from the same bottle of soda, got spanked, and actually got punished for screwing up, (like hard yard labor, in my case) and "somehow" survived.

The wussification of modern society is a result of a dumbing down of America.... It has transpired into nanny state, entitlements.

Just get's in line and go get yo free handout. 

Very Sad those days "without the green thing"......are becoming the minority.

[philw]

We drank out of garden hoses, didn't wear helmets on our bikes, rode in the backs of pick up trucks, picked fresh fruit off the trees, used our pocket knives to "divvy" the wedges,....drank from the same bottle of soda, got spanked, and actually got punished for screwing up, (like hard yard labor, in my case) and "somehow" survived.

The wussification of modern society is a result of a dumbing down of America.... It has transpired into nanny state, entitlements.

Just get's in line and go get yo free handout. 

Very Sad those days "without the green thing"......are becoming the minority.

sadly it is not just the US  it is the same here

[crusader rabbit]

As a kid I and every one of my friends  carried a pocket knife.  We frequently played mumbley-peg during recess and we'd stick the blade as close as possible to our opponent's foot.  Sometimes, the teachers would come over and watch the game.  And no one was ever arrested as a terrorist. 

We'd go on "bike hikes" leaving early Saturday morning, and not returning home until it was dark.  Sometimes, we'd pack some food in a back-pack and strap a sheath knife on our belt and a sleeping bag to our handlebars and do an overnight camping trip.  Of course we'd tell our parents, but we didn't invite any of them along.  Sometimes, one of us would bring a BB gun or even a .22 and nobody thought anything of it.  Somebody's parent would likely tell us not to shoot out any windows and be sure we knew where any bullets were going to end up.  Amazingly, we lived through the experiences.

Sometimes we'd have the misfortune of riding through a patch of "puncture vine" and our bike tires would go flat.  We'd "vulcanize" holes in the inner tubes with patches that had an incendiary material that smoked up an entire garage or sent up a pretty incredible plume of smoke outside--and we didn't need an EPA permit to light them off.  That's how we recycled.

Like most of my friends, I had a father who would work on the family car.  That's how we kids learned how to do our own oil changes and do our own valve jobs and tune-ups.  That's how most of my circle of friends kept the family car going.  We didn't think of it as recycling as much as economic necessity.

Sometimes, we'd get a bit irked with one of the guys down the street, and we might have an actual physical altercation.  Lips got busted.  Eyes were blackened.  And friendships were refined and recycled.  But no one's parents ever thought about calling a lawyer or calling the cops.

Yet today, if some kid manages to hit his own thumb with a hammer, somebody is going to get sued.  If a kid draws a picture of a gun, the kid is labled as a terrorist.  If a kid brings a pocket knife to school he's probably in for some jail time.

Sheesh...  What have we allowed to happen to our formerly self-reliant nation?

[jaybet]

Sheesh...  What have we allowed to happen to our formerly self-reliant nation?

LAWYERS happened Crusader. Freakin' lawyers twisted reality when they convinced everyone that you are not responsible for your actions and you are owed financial compensation for any mistake or any idiocy on your part. The rest is just touchy feely adjustments to the fact that you no longer have any personal responsibility, except maybe to save the whales.

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

It's a wonder the human race didn't die out a 1000 years ago with out azzhole liberals to tell us "What's best" for us.
But remember, "it's for the children", and the power mongering ego's of alleged "do gooder's".

[fightingquaker13]

I remember getting dropped off in a swamp on Friday with a couple of friends, canoes, and fishing and camping gear and getting picked up on Sunday. We thought it was great. Nowadays, my folks wuld be arested for child abuse. Hell, I was allowed to go hunting alone when I could drive (the legal age used to be 16). Now? Two 16 year olds with deer rifles would be arrested on general principles.
FQ13 who isn't THAT old, it was only the late '80s. This stuff pisses me off.

[Timothy]

As a kid I and every one of my friends  carried a pocket knife.  We frequently played mumbley-peg during recess and we'd stick the blade as close as possible to our opponent's foot.  Sometimes, the teachers would come over and watch the game.  And no one was ever arrested as a terrorist. 

We'd go on "bike hikes" leaving early Saturday morning, and not returning home until it was dark.  Sometimes, we'd pack some food in a back-pack and strap a sheath knife on our belt and a sleeping bag to our handlebars and do an overnight camping trip.  Of course we'd tell our parents, but we didn't invite any of them along.  Sometimes, one of us would bring a BB gun or even a .22 and nobody thought anything of it.  Somebody's parent would likely tell us not to shoot out any windows and be sure we knew where any bullets were going to end up.  Amazingly, we lived through the experiences.

Sometimes we'd have the misfortune of riding through a patch of "puncture vine" and our bike tires would go flat.  We'd "vulcanize" holes in the inner tubes with patches that had an incendiary material that smoked up an entire garage or sent up a pretty incredible plume of smoke outside--and we didn't need an EPA permit to light them off.  That's how we recycled.

Like most of my friends, I had a father who would work on the family car.  That's how we kids learned how to do our own oil changes and do our own valve jobs and tune-ups.  That's how most of my circle of friends kept the family car going.  We didn't think of it as recycling as much as economic necessity.

Sometimes, we'd get a bit irked with one of the guys down the street, and we might have an actual physical altercation.  Lips got busted.  Eyes were blackened.  And friendships were refined and recycled.  But no one's parents ever thought about calling a lawyer or calling the cops.

Yet today, if some kid manages to hit his own thumb with a hammer, somebody is going to get sued.  If a kid draws a picture of a gun, the kid is labled as a terrorist.  If a kid brings a pocket knife to school he's probably in for some jail time.

Sheesh...  What have we allowed to happen to our formerly self-reliant nation?

You and I grew up in parallel universes Crusader!  You just described my early years in a nutshell.....

There are lists of 100 things EVERY man should be able to do and I've doubled that list and then some.....

And another note....whatever happened to mowing the elderly couples lawn or shoveling their walk when it was needed?  When we were kids, we did these things without being asked or expecting reward!

[fightingquaker13]

PS. I remember an old rhyme my (very) Scottish grandmother, who was a child of the Deppression taught me when I was small. It went something like this:
Make it last,
Fix it up,
Make it do,
Or do without.

You want to find the most ecologically conscious people on the planet? Find some poor folks. They know that nothing is to be wasted or thrown away. Being "green" isn't a fashion statement, its how you live from day to day. Shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. 
FQ13

[tombogan03884]

This is one of those times I have to agree with the Quaker.
You want "green" ? Live out of the "FoxFire" series. Those old time Appalachians knew that if you didn't have money you needed the natural world to supply nearly everything you could not afford to buy. From moonshine and crops, to musical instruments and homes.
There has always been a difference between the "poor folks" and the people who had no money.