The Green thing

Everyone with an email address has at some time received emails with jokes; links to You Tube clips, pictures, poems or stories from friends who have forwarded on these emails from their friends and so forth. The following email I received was one which I could relate too being bought up in an era before the environment was a major topic of Governmental concern.  A time when “we didn’t have the green thing” to worry about.

I don’t know where this story originated from so I don’t know who to quote as the Author. And if you search the internet you’ll see it appears on many blogs and Facebook pages so by no means this is my story but I liked it enough to share with those of you who haven’t seen it – Enjoy!

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.

The woman apologised to him and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”  The clerk responded, ” That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment.”

He was right — our generation didn’t have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soft drink bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and 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 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 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 the clothes. 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 Western Australia ..
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 a wadded up old newspaper 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.

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 tram, train or a 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 outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza 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?

The Village

I live in a village.  Well technically it’s a 9 story apartment block but to me, it’s a village. Because like any village, especially small villages it’s made up of the following people:

The villagers – normal people who go about their daily chores in peace and harmony with one another. They work all day to enjoy their weekend activities. But sometimes their peace is upset.

The village councilors– a small group of people who look after the well-being of the villagers, the village infrastructure and village finances.  The Villagers make up these people and are voted in every year for the privilege.  However, like many democracies  every now and again one of the members of the following two groups slip through the net and become members of the village councilors.

The village idiots– this is a small group of people who, on many occasions, make life a little harder for the other villagers. They are a group that make up the crowd of hecklers who flock to the village centre to listen to the next group of village occupants – the village bullies.

The village bullies – this is one or two individuals whose soul purpose in life is to upset the villagers, by applying bully tactics, abuse and intimidation to get what they wants no matter how trivial or ridiculous it is.  They drum up support by making up lies and stories for the village idiots to feed off.

And lastly, there is the village mad woman

The village mad woman – this is one individual who wants to live in peace and harmony but when the village idiots and the village bullies go on their village rampages, this woman goes mad.  Not the ‘I’ll get you back’ mad.  No, this woman literally goes mad, she rants and raves about the downfall and destruction of the village, she dances around cauldrons, burns effigies and makes up spells to rid the village of the idiots and bullies.   What’s funny about the village mad woman, no one knows who she is until….

The village crierHere ye, here ye, the village mad woman is me!