In the line at the store the young cashier told the old woman that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized and explained, “We didn’t have this "green thing" back in my day.”

That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in her day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed, sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But they didn’t have that "green thing" back in her 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 SUV every time they had to go two blocks. She's 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 and they dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Back then, 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 or flour sacks from the store became the new shirts and blouses. Cobblers repaired their shoes, so they lasted decades. The old woman tried to explain to the young cashier why that back in her day, they didn’t have that "green thing".

Back then, they had one TV in the house with a small black and white screen. 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 wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. She said it was something to do with not having a "green thing".

Back then, they didn’t fire up a big riding mower to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working. They didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. It was all because back then, they were not into the "green thing".

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, not from a plastic bottle. Instead of buying a new pen, they refilled pens with ink and they replaced the blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. So you can see, they didn’t have the 'green thing going on back then.

Back then, instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service, people walked, rode their bikes or rode the school bus to school. 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 22,000 miles out in space to find the nearest pizza joint.

So you can clearly see that back then, they really never had time to get into the “green thing”.

Do you have special memories of a personal, a parent or grandparent "green thing"? Please share it if you do.