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 apologised and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back
in my earlier days."

The assistant 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, soft drink bottles and beer bottles
to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed, 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.

We walked up stairs because we didn't have a lift or escalator in every
store and office building. We walked to the grocers and didn't climb into
a 200-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 nappies because we didn't have the
throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling
machine burning up 2000 watts -- wind and solar power really did dry our
clothes back then. 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 not a screen the
size of Yorkshire. 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 post, 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 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.

When we were thirsty we drank from a tap instead of drinking from a
plastic bottle of water shipped from the other side of the world. We
refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we
replaced the blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor
when 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. We had
one electrical socket 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 fish and chip shop.

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, grumpy old git who needs a
lesson in conservation from a smartarse young person.

Remember: Don't make old people angry.

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to
piss us off!!!