This is good

[backhoeboogie]

Don't normally post things like this but.....

I can related to everything below and I am not all that old, (I don't think) :cboy:

Maybe you should read this if you are like me, or else you'll feel old. Anyone else ever have a party line and you had to wait for the neighbors to finish their phone conversation so that you could use the phone? Maybe I am really old.

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MMMM, ya think it's all our fault...


*How Wasteful the Older Generation Was ... *

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. The former generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right, that generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, they returned their 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 they didn't have the green thing back in that customer's day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.

But she was right. They didn't have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't have the throw-away kind. They 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 old lady is right, they didn't have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they 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 hankerchief, not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you.
When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right, they didn't have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But they 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 rode the school bus instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they 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 joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back then?
This article just proves that this younger generation is a generation of ME MYSELF AND I

~~~Life is what you make it, make the best of what you have.~~~

 

[upfrombottom]

Anyone else ever have a party line and you had to wait for the neighbors to finish their phone conversation so that you could use the phone?

If you were real quiet, you could listen in on their conversation for entertainment. And if you were swooning a girl you had to be real good at listening for someone picking up on the line.

 

[I luv herfrds]

I remember the glass pop bottles. We would take them to the store. I think we got a nickle for them.
Rode our bikes everywhere too.

 

[Angus Cowman]

we always cashed in our pop bottles right before the 4th of July and that was what my brother and I used to buy our fireworks with

our fair money was pennies we got or that our parents let us pick out of their change and we put it in a gallon jar all yr and then rolled it and took it to the bank and that was what we used to go to the fair on
heck back then $50-60 would take me and my brother to the fair all 3 nites and ride all the rides and buy whatever we wanted to eat and drink and usually have some left over

 

[Animal Track Farm]

We had a party line for a short while, my grandparents had one for many years. I rigged my wagon to hold 100 "coke" bottles. Walked to town on Saturday morning to cash them in. Bought my BB's and a milkshake with the money and had some left over.

 

[larryshoat]

I remember all that, our phone ring was 3 longs and 2 shorts, and I had a pop bottle business too. Good post backhoe.

Larry

 

[IGotMyWings]

I didn't do much walking to town as it was over ten miles away, but I remember walking ditches for pop bottles, and I collected beer cans (didn't recycle them, but I did get them picked up!), we made a trip to the grocery once a week, and ate out once or twice a month after church if we went to the big town, we had a milk man who put milk in a metal cooler on the back porch, and we only left a light on in an empty room if we were going to be gone past dark! Yeah, we were soooooo wasteful. My head is hanging in shame.

 

[1982vett]

we always cashed in our pop bottles right before the 4th of July and that was what my brother and I used to buy our fireworks with

our fair money was pennies we got or that our parents let us pick out of their change and we put it in a gallon jar all yr and then rolled it and took it to the bank and that was what we used to go to the fair on
heck back then $50-60 would take me and my brother to the fair all 3 nites and ride all the rides and buy whatever we wanted to eat and drink and usually have some left over

WoW...High rollers!......though we were good wrangling $5

 

[Caustic Burno]

Boogie there was also only one automoble at the house it didn't look like a used car lot. Secondly if you drove by the high school there might have been a half dozen or so in the student parking lot. You could have thrown a cat through them and never hit metal in the rusted out heaps.
Remember mom would pack a basket of chicken and tea if we had to go to a funeral or something, didn't stop and eat there was none of these places and don't break down on Sunday.

 

[dun]

Exluding shoes all your clothes were made at home, a "new" car was 15-20 years old, there wasn;t any concept of an allowance. In my case the "allowance" was the reason for picking up pop bottles, that was my spending money. Working at home (chores) was expected and there wasn;t any pay for that. Chrsmas was socks and underwear from the store.
And we felt like we were well off!

 

[alisonb]

The 'Older Generation' played a pivotal role in where technology is today, I think it will be difficult to lay the blame on a specific generation. Makes you think and remember though, we had a party line when growing up in the Northern Transvaal - if we were caught listening to the neighbors we would get a good wack, not that it stopped us .