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VK4AYQ
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Joined: 02/12/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 2539

Posted: 01:22pm 02 Dec 2013

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A thought provoking little story of not so long ago I am sure a lot of you will remember what we fondly refer to as the good old days"

To all my friends who remember...

Checking out at the store, 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 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�So they really were recycled.

�But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, 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 scribblings�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 an escalator 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 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 throwaway 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 Northern Territory . 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 fuel just to cu t 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 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 parents into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what 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 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

�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 ass young person...

�We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off... especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smart arse who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much!!!

All the best

Bob

Foolin Around

MOBI
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Joined: 02/12/2012
Location: Australia
Posts: 819

Posted: 07:24pm 02 Dec 2013

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Hi Bob,

Some of us even now still live the way we did before we had "the green thing".

It painted a very vivid picture of the way we grew up. Those brown paper bags also doubled as our school lunch bags. Our sandwiches were wrapped in the waxed paper from our corn flakes bag (if we were lucky enough to afford them). Remember the fights with the other kids for the plastic toy that used to be in the bottom of the bag?

We ironed our clothes with irons with a removable handle that were heated on the wood stove.

The "green things" I remember were the wooden handle of the egg beater (I inherited it from my mother and still use it) and the wood box on the back veranda that I had to chop the wood for and fill so we could cook our meals. The old wringer in the laundry/bathroom on the double concrete trough, was also green. I hung off that handle for hours as I did also on the cream separator (alpha lavaal) which was also mostly green.

You know, I kinda still miss those days before we had "the green thing".

David M.

norcold

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Joined: 06/02/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 670

Posted: 08:37pm 02 Dec 2013

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Gotta agree with you fellas, it wasn`t fashionable or political correct just common sense. But although we live with those values to a certain extent still I wouldn`t go back, I`ve been seduced with the convenience of todays living. Those values certainly expose the fashionable myth that Baby Boomers "wrecked" it all. I don`t even believe its "wrecked".

In western NQ I didn`t know exactly what a TV was until I came home from working away up north further, to find Mum & Dad had a black&white TV. From memory that was about 1970-71, and then it was snowing with the picture hardly watchable, we were well behind but tis a local call to JC in NQ. Now we simply check the news on the internet each day and watch cricket, footie and a occasional DVD on the box. Wouldn`t give up the Sat Tv`s coverage of cricket. No definitely wouldn`t go back.Edited by norcold 2013-12-04

We come from the land downunder.
Vic

VK4AYQ
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Joined: 02/12/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 2539

Posted: 12:14am 03 Dec 2013

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Back in the before GREEN days the logic was a bit simpler, we just realized the earth was round but where not aware of the Big Bang Theory.
Most of our generation were HOME SCHOOLED in many ways. The modern generation is home schooled by TV shows and the odd interaction with parents.
Some home schooling you may remember.

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE .
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."

2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
"What have you done!,You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

3. My father taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock
you into the middle of next week!"

4. My father taught me LOGIC.
" Because I said so, that's why."

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC .
"If you fall out of that swing
and break your neck, you're not going to the shops with me."

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case
you're in an accident."

7. My father taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS .
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA ..
"You'll sit there until all that spinach
is gone."

11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.
"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."

12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
"If I told you once, I've told you a million times.
Don't exaggerate!"

13. My father taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out..."

14.. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION .
"Stop acting like your father!"

15. My mother taught me about ENVY.
"There are millions of less fortunate children in
this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
"Just wait until we get home"

17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING .
"You are going to get it from your father when you get home!"

18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are
going to get stuck that way."

19. My mother taught me ESP.
"Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"

20. My father taught me HUMOUR.
"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT .
"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

22. My mother taught me GENETICS.
"You're just like your father."

23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
"Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were
born in a barn?"

24. My mother taught me WISDOM.
"When you get to be my age, you'll understand.

25. My father taught me about JUSTICE .
"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you !"
*******************************

Foolin Around

isaiah

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Joined: 25/12/2009
Location: United States
Posts: 303

Posted: 03:43pm 05 Dec 2013

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Hi Bob
Good posts on the thoughts,
I copied your two and put them together in a email and sent them around and got one comment back That they are the Best""several other comments also.
Take Care
Isaiah

URL=http://www.motherearthnews.com/Renewable-Energy/1973-11- 01/The-Plowboy-Interview.aspx>The Plowboy Interview[/URL>

VK4AYQ
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Joined: 02/12/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 2539

Posted: 05:41pm 05 Dec 2013

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Hi Isaiah

Things like this jog our memory as to the way it was in our childhood and youth and it really makes you think.

All the best

Bob

Foolin Around

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