{"id":512,"date":"2011-05-09T15:41:46","date_gmt":"2011-05-09T19:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/watchwomanonthewall\/?p=512"},"modified":"2011-05-09T15:55:24","modified_gmt":"2011-05-09T19:55:24","slug":"how-wasteful-the-older-generation-was","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/05\/how-wasteful-the-older-generation-was.html","title":{"rendered":"How Wasteful the Older Generation Was …"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jim Knowles<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman\u00a0that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren’t good\u00a0for the environment.<\/p>\n

\"\"The woman apologized to him and explained, “We\u00a0didn’t have the green<\/strong><\/span> thing back in my day.”<\/p>\n

The clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. The former generation\u00a0did not care enough to save our environment.”<\/p>\n

He was right, that generation didn’t have the green<\/strong><\/span> thing in its day.<\/p>\n

Back then, they returned their milk bottles, soda bottles and beer\u00a0bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and\u00a0sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over.<\/p>\n

So they really were recycled.<\/p>\n

But they didn’t have the green<\/strong><\/span> thing back in that customer’s day.<\/p>\n

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an\u00a0escalator in\u00a0every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and\u00a0didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine\u00a0every time they had to go two blocks.<\/p>\n

But she was right. They didn’t have the green<\/strong><\/span> thing in her day.<\/p>\n

Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have the\u00a0throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy\u00a0gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind\u00a0and solar power really did dry the clothes.<\/p>\n

Kids got hand-me-down\u00a0clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.<\/p>\n

But that old lady is right, they didn’t have the green<\/span><\/strong> thing back in her day.<\/p>\n

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every room. \u00a0And the TV had a small screen the size of a hankerchief, not a screen\u00a0the size of the state of Montana. \"\"<\/p>\n

In the kitchen, they blended and stirred\u00a0by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for you.<\/p>\n

When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used a\u00a0wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.<\/p>\n

Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut\u00a0the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by\u00a0working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills\u00a0that operate on electricity.<\/p>\n

But she’s right, they didn’t have the green<\/strong><\/span> thing back then.<\/p>\n

\"\"They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a\u00a0cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled\u00a0their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced\u00a0the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just\u00a0because the blade got dull.<\/p>\n

But they didn’t have the green<\/strong><\/span> thing back then.<\/p>\n

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes\u00a0to school or rode the school bus instead\u00a0of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one\u00a0electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen\u00a0appliances. And they didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a\u00a0signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the\u00a0nearest pizza joint.<\/p>\n

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they didn’t have the green<\/strong><\/span> thing back then?<\/p>\n

Donna Calvin comments about Mr. Knowles article…<\/strong><\/p>\n

“<\/strong>We Were Green<\/span> When It Was Called “Not Being Wasteful.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was growing up in my parents house, my mother taught my sister and me not to be wasteful. \u00a0Today it’s called being “green.”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I really don’t like the word “green”<\/span><\/strong>. “Green”<\/span><\/strong> is a political term and part of a political agenda I strongly oppose. \u00a0The “green” <\/strong><\/span>movement is political\u00a0correctness gone\u00a0a muck\u00a0and,\u00a0frankly, I loathe PC. \u00a0PC is the political religion of the left, comprised of atheism,\u00a0agnostics, humanists and others who never had honest-to-goodness, solidly-based, strict Bible training sitting at the feet of their parents and good Bible-preaching-teaching pastors.<\/p>\n

When I was growing up in my parents house, my mother taught my sister and me not to be wasteful. \u00a0I was taught:<\/p>\n