THEM “GOOD OLD DAYS”? -- NUTS!

By Edwin Cooney

I know I’m in trouble with some of you already -- which is perfectly understandable -- but today’s lifestyle is better than yesterday’s! Today’s generation does most things more efficiently and more conscientiously than ever before.

What brought all of this to mind was an article that two of my readers sent me called “That Green Thing.” Due to its brevity, I present it below in its entirety:

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the 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 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. 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 diapers 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 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 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. 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. 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 streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked 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 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? Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person. Remember: Don't make old people mad. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off.


Okay, fair enough in view of the clerk’s careless slur. However, Love Canal near Niagara Falls, the pollution of every major river throughout the land, and the pollution of Pittsburgh are testimony that my generation and the one or two preceding it gave to the environment. What’s sad about this article is that it’s pointless. Any argument between the generations is an automatic victory for the future. If yesterday was better than today, then the people of yesterday failed their children.

Was yesterday better than today? Of course not! Does yesterday have legitimate lessons to teach? You bet it does! However, if yesterday is where you’d like to be, it’s likely that it's because you’re not satisfied with your contribution to the progress yesterday made in the life of humankind.

I, too, like yesterday for many reasons, among them the fact that we’ve come through all of the personal, national and international crises that confronted us. Today’s generation faces the same challenges.

The truth is that I like yesterday, too. However, what I like best about yesterday is that I was younger!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY