I gotta share this story I just saw again today. Maybe you’ve seen some version of it. But it’s about what happened when a young cashier told an older woman “you should bring your grocery bags next time. Because plastic bags aren’t good for the environment.”

And the older woman shared some actual good for the environment facts.

Here’s the story version I saw:

The  woman apologized, “We didn’t have this green thing back in my day.” 

The young clerk said, “Your generation didn’t care enough to save the environment for future generations.”

So, the woman gave him a firm stare and a hard grin and said…

“Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles, and beer bottles. And the store sent them back to the plant to be washed sterilized and refilled. So they could use the same bottles over. They were recycled. 

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags which we reused for numerous things. We walked upstairs because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. And we walked to the grocery and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. 

Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers. Because we didn’t have the throwaway kind. And we dried clothes on a line. Not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power did dry our clothes back in our day. And kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters. Not always brand-new clothing. 

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. Not an energy draining screen the size of the state of Montana. 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.

And back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline 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. 

And 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 with a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. 

Back then, people took a bus and kids rode their bikes instead of turning their moms 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 computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles in space to find the nearest burger joint. But the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the green thing.”

The cashier stood there still and quiet as the old lady found her wallet to pay.

Then, the lady turned to leave. But she stepped back and turned toward the cashier.

And she said “You have a world of knowledge in that little device in your hand. Pity you just use it to gossip, take pictures, and waste time. It would do you good to search a bit of history before you embarrass yourself like this again.

I love that story. I don’t know if I’m as old as the old lady. But I can relate to every example she shared. And, in fact, I can remember living in a house where the cooking was done entirely with a wood-burning stove. For a long time there was an ice box instead of a refrigerator. And we ate food that came from a chicken, cow, pig, or garden just outside the farmhouse doors.