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Funny emails can be a pain or highly amusing. They are sometimes too naughty to be in print really. Other times they have more than a smattering of truth hiding in the humour. Here is one I received that is amusing and holds more than a touch of the truth.

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 day."
 
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. But we didn't have the 'green' thing back in our day.
 
We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator or elevator 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 a few 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 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 a bank of sockets to power a dozen things. 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 place.
 
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 old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart young person or perhaps to a young person who may not recall those 'olden days' of their parents.
 
Remember: We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to tick us off.

 

    Maria Hardy

    Maria writes out of London. After working in various offices as a clerk Maria retired and began writing. Writing became a hobby along with reading, gardening, swimming and travelling. Other interests include history, geography and politics.

    Currently Maria is working on a work of fiction, having already written three children's stories which will form part of an E Book

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