"THe Green Thing

[OKLAHOMAN]

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much 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 young 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 our 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. Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then. 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 throwaway 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 in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing." 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 out in space in order to find the nearest burger 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... We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to **** us off...especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.

 

[sbwertz]

AMEN!

 

[dwarmbrodt]

Wow. Well said. I am "over 50" and understand all you stated. I do now, however, bring my own bag to the grocery store. Its a cloth Smith&Wesson tote bag I got at a trade show. I enjoy the looks I get, but I digress. I will also say I have recently installed a 2.4kw solar array on my house. I no longer have an electric bill. Now, what I so do enjoy telling this younger generation is while they are enjoying the benefits of "saving the planet" stuff, my generation remembers practicing "hide under your desk" air raid drills in school. Yup, frickin' nuclear attack drills! That was a much bigger fish to fry compared to todays issues. Wow, I really digressed! I will probably come back and delete my post......

 

[GaryMGg]

Gee Roy.
Until you posted, I didn't realize how bad we had it back when.

 

[ironman123]

Roy, you speak what the minds of our generation thinks. Well spoken.

I see the rude undisiplined (spelling/) kids and young adults and think what are the generation to come going to be like. Then I get this question in my head: "Didn't their parents teach them better than that"? Then I think maybe there was a skip in the generations that caused this.

That is it for me, I am getting a headache thinking about it. You said it for us Roy.

Ray

 

[Chatham PenWorks]

I'm nowhere near as old as you cranky old farts, but the paper bag book covers did bring back some fun memories.

 

[cwolfs69]

i'm 64 years old now. i never realized we were so wasteful back then. couldn't have said it better.

 

[Smitty37]

Gee Roy.
Until you posted, I didn't realize how bad we had it back when.

Yea we had it bad --- but:


At 5 years old my parents could let me and my 7 year old sister walk 2 miles to school without fear of us being abducted or shot.


If an adult stopped and offered us a ride we were perfectly safe in accepting.


As teenagers, we could "take a short cut" across anybody's lawn without upsetting them into calling the police because they feared we were going to rob them.


Also if there were 10 or 12 of us gathered in front of the sweetshop, approaching adults didn't think they had to go to the other side of the street to avoid confronting us.


In addition if there were a bunch of us hanging around and someone had a job that needed some "husky young guys" for lifting or something, they'd not hesitate to stop and ask for help - and they'd get it with nothing asked for and nothing owed - we just thought it was the right thing to do.


A couple of older ladies who didn't get down town much, thought nothing of stopping me and giving me or one of my peers some money to go to the store for them, and they knew they'd always get back the right change. They would also ask me and/or others to stop at the post office and pick up their mail.


I could hitch hike anywhere I wanted to go that was too far to walk without fear of anything other than not catching a ride.

 

[jttheclockman]

Remember them well. Stroll down memory lane once again. Seems like alot of that here these days. Freeze frame these comments and look back at them 20 years from now.

 

[turncrazy43]

Roy, thank you for reminding me how really great my young years were. I doubt we appreciated then like we do looking back today. You sure hit the nail on the head.
________________________________________________________________
Everyday I'm vertical is a great day

 

[Displaced Canadian]

We had a pic-a-pop store in town. Bring in your case of empties and leave with a new case. It was cool because you could fill the case with however many of whatever flavor. It was a big deal for us kids because Dad would only get us soda about twice a year, christmas and once in the summer. No AC in the house, just keep the blinds closed all day and open everything up and turn on a fan at night when it cooled down. I would go with my grandpa to drop off his empty beer bottles at the beer parlour and go in with him to get another case. I would be sent to get cigarettes at 10 years old and the clerk would ask," Aren't you too young to smoke?" and you would reply,"They're for my Dad." And all was OK. But if you ever asked for a different brand than he smoked the clerk would ask him about it the next time he went in. If you did something stupid at a friends house even without cell phones your parents knew what you did by the time you got home and the question, so what did you do while you were at Tim's house wasn't really a question. When the town patriarch started to put on her coat and hat to walk home from church you put yours on as well and walked her home. It wasn't because you were worried about her being robbed, you were there to make sure she didn't fall going up the stairs to her house. I really enjoyed growing up in the country 5 miles from a town of only 2500 people.

 

[healeydays]

Sounds like an employee who should be an ex-employee

 

[maxwell_smart007]

Gee Roy.
Until you posted, I didn't realize how bad we had it back when.

Yea we had it bad --- but:


At 5 years old my parents could let me and my 7 year old sister walk 2 miles to school without fear of us being abducted or shot.


If an adult stopped and offered us a ride we were perfectly safe in accepting.


As teenagers, we could "take a short cut" across anybody's lawn without upsetting them into calling the police because they feared we were going to rob them.


Also if there were 10 or 12 of us gathered in front of the sweetshop, approaching adults didn't think they had to go to the other side of the street to avoid confronting us.


In addition if there were a bunch of us hanging around and someone had a job that needed some "husky young guys" for lifting or something, they'd not hesitate to stop and ask for help - and they'd get it with nothing asked for and nothing owed - we just thought it was the right thing to do.


A couple of older ladies who didn't get down town much, thought nothing of stopping me and giving me or one of my peers some money to go to the store for them, and they knew they'd always get back the right change. They would also ask me and/or others to stop at the post office and pick up their mail.


I could hitch hike anywhere I wanted to go that was too far to walk without fear of anything other than not catching a ride.

You can still do all this - you just have to live here!

 

[shadetree_1]

Remember it all well my friend and could not have said it better myself.
Gas was 17.9 a gallon, I could fill up my Chevy SS get a pack of smokes and a six pak of beer (returnable bottles) and get change from a $5 bill, take the bottles back and the next six pak was only a buck, if you broke down on the side of the road everybody stopped to see if they could help and most would pull your car home for you and not expect a thing in return, you just stopped when you saw someone on the side of the road and offered to help. Better then than now me thinks, but I'm just an old fart what do I know.

 

[sbell111]

link

My thoughts on this haven't changed.

 

[mdburn_em]

I remember my folks stopping by a broken down car on the highway, packing the folks home, putting them to bed, feeding them breakfast and then taking them to town the next morning when the service station was open.

Same scenario but instead, going home and getting a 5 gallon gas can, filling it from several of the 300 gallon tanks dad had, going back to the highway and putting the gas in the car for the folks.

Flash forward to today. Pull over to the side of the road on U.S. 2 in northern Montana, put your flashers on and count the number of people that stop.

Favorite story from a couple years ago. My brother-in-law stops to see if this guy on the side of the road needed help. The man looks at him and says, "What's with you people, you're the 3rd car to stop in 10 minutes. I'm just trying to eat my lunch."

It's not all gone...

 

[sbell111]

We had a pic-a-pop store in town. Bring in your case of empties and leave with a new case. It was cool because you could fill the case with however many of whatever flavor. It was a big deal for us kids because Dad would only get us soda about twice a year, christmas and once in the summer. No AC in the house, just keep the blinds closed all day and open everything up and turn on a fan at night when it cooled down. I would go with my grandpa to drop off his empty beer bottles at the beer parlour and go in with him to get another case. I would be sent to get cigarettes at 10 years old and the clerk would ask," Aren't you too young to smoke?" and you would reply,"They're for my Dad." And all was OK. But if you ever asked for a different brand than he smoked the clerk would ask him about it the next time he went in. If you did something stupid at a friends house even without cell phones your parents knew what you did by the time you got home and the question, so what did you do while you were at Tim's house wasn't really a question. When the town patriarch started to put on her coat and hat to walk home from church you put yours on as well and walked her home. It wasn't because you were worried about her being robbed, you were there to make sure she didn't fall going up the stairs to her house. I really enjoyed growing up in the country 5 miles from a town of only 2500 people.

What impresses me the most about the town that you grew up in is how welcoming it was to crossdressers.

 

[CHARLES STOPCZYNSKI]

Amen!

Must have missed the part about us walking down the road with a .22 or shotgun in hand. This was commonplace in the fall when I was a teen (14+). Always responsibly. We we not about to jeopardize our privileges.

Charlie

 

[sbell111]

I remember my folks stopping by a broken down car on the highway, packing the folks home, putting them to bed, feeding them breakfast and then taking them to town the next morning when the service station was open.

Same scenario but instead, going home and getting a 5 gallon gas can, filling it from several of the 300 gallon tanks dad had, going back to the highway and putting the gas in the car for the folks.

Flash forward to today. Pull over to the side of the road on U.S. 2 in northern Montana, put your flashers on and count the number of people that stop.

Favorite story from a couple years ago. My brother-in-law stops to see if this guy on the side of the road needed help. The man looks at him and says, "What's with you people, you're the 3rd car to stop in 10 minutes. I'm just trying to eat my lunch."

It's not all gone...

A while back, before I replaced my old grand cherokee with the Avalanche, I was driving to the inlaws house when a hose from my transmission fluid cooler to my transmission failed. My transmission quickly pumped all of it's fluid onto the road and left me without transport. I grabbed my phone and called my wife to tell her my story of woe. Then I did an internet search on my phone to find a nearby transmission shop that was open late on a Saturday. I called them and they referred me to a local tow truck guy. A call to him and I was pretty set. I sat in my car for about twenty minutes waiting for the tow truck, watching a movie on my iPad and eating the kid's cookies. I needed no help. In fact, it was a nice break from life's dramas.

Back in the day, that breakdown would have been very stressful. I would have had to catch a ride to somewhere with a phonebooth (and phonebook) to make calls for a shop and tow truck. Then, I would have had to catch a ride back to my broken car to wait for the truck. A half hour of comfortable wait would have turned into probably a couple of hours of drama even if I was able to hitch rides back and forth pretty easily.

Here's my point:

Back in the day, you stopped and helped those people because they were basically trapped on the side of the road. Nowdays, people aren't likely to be trapped and in need of the help of strangers because they likely have already called someone to help them out, so the assumption is that people on the side of the road don't need help.

 

[sbwertz]

We had a glove factory in town and they would pay us 10 cents apiece for cottontails and 25 cents apiece for blacktailed jackrabbits to line the gloves with. We made our spending money with a 22 rifle.

Sharon

Must have missed the part about us walking down the road with a .22 or shotgun in hand. This was commonplace in the fall when I was a teen (14+). Always responsibly. We we not about to jeopardize our privileges.

Charlie

 

[sbwertz]

Some years ago I was on my way to Utah when I saw an older couple broken down beside a rural highway. I stopped to see if I could help and found that a radiator hose had burst. Fortunately, the heater hose was the same diameter, so I was able to jury rig a repair, refill the radiator with water I always carry, and get them into the next town. This was long before cell phones, and there wasn't much traffic on that road. Who knows how long they would have been stranded there.

 

[sbwertz]

I, too, carry my own reuseable grocery bags, but for an entirely different reason. They are insulated bags. Otherwise, my frozen food melts before I can get it home.

 

[raar25]

Sound more like you over heard a rude kid that was not raised properly or trained how to deal with customers. Although much of what you are saying is correct, there were many ways which our parents generation did not protect the enviroment (e.g. lead, heavy metals, toxic chemicals dumped into the enviroment). I worked at a an old battery plant that poluted the enviroment so badly for so long they will have to maintain a multil million dollar water treatment plant for the gound water and they will never be able to sell the property which they no longer use. So I although I am old enough to remember the things you speak of I am also old enough to recognize all the things ways we didnt realize we were poisoning our environment.

Try not to take these rude self centered kids too seriously, because they dont know any better either.

 

[jyreene]

And to top it all off you guys made it so they had to stop making all these hard to get blanks because of caustic chemicals, for shame! I honestly hate many of my generation if only because of the lack of respect.

 

[Smitty37]

I remember my folks stopping by a broken down car on the highway, packing the folks home, putting them to bed, feeding them breakfast and then taking them to town the next morning when the service station was open.

Same scenario but instead, going home and getting a 5 gallon gas can, filling it from several of the 300 gallon tanks dad had, going back to the highway and putting the gas in the car for the folks.

Flash forward to today. Pull over to the side of the road on U.S. 2 in northern Montana, put your flashers on and count the number of people that stop.

Favorite story from a couple years ago. My brother-in-law stops to see if this guy on the side of the road needed help. The man looks at him and says, "What's with you people, you're the 3rd car to stop in 10 minutes. I'm just trying to eat my lunch."

It's not all gone...

A while back, before I replaced my old grand cherokee with the Avalanche, I was driving to the inlaws house when a hose from my transmission fluid cooler to my transmission failed. My transmission quickly pumped all of it's fluid onto the road and left me without transport. I grabbed my phone and called my wife to tell her my story of woe. Then I did an internet search on my phone to find a nearby transmission shop that was open late on a Saturday. I called them and they referred me to a local tow truck guy. A call to him and I was pretty set. I sat in my car for about twenty minutes waiting for the tow truck, watching a movie on my iPad and eating the kid's cookies. I needed no help. In fact, it was a nice break from life's dramas.

Back in the day, that breakdown would have been very stressful. I would have had to catch a ride to somewhere with a phonebooth (and phonebook) to make calls for a shop and tow truck. Then, I would have had to catch a ride back to my broken car to wait for the truck. A half hour of comfortable wait would have turned into probably a couple of hours of drama even if I was able to hitch rides back and forth pretty easily.

Here's my point:

Back in the day, you stopped and helped those people because they were basically trapped on the side of the road. Nowdays, people aren't likely to be trapped and in need of the help of strangers because they likely have already called someone to help them out, so the assumption is that people on the side of the road don't need help.

Actually Steve, if someone is on the side of the road and "trapped" today people (including myself) are a heck of a lot less likely to stop and help than they were then. And it isn't because we are "less likely" to need help, it's because they fear for their safety if they stop. The cold hard fact is (and I am saying this as one who has seen it both ways) people were nicer to each other and, in general, treated each other with more kindness and respect then than they do now.

As a teenager I and my peers knew every elderly person in town who might need some help if a big snow storm hit (and we went and helped them). We knew who didn't have a refrigerator and might need food if the roads weren't passable. Today kids that live half a block away don't even know my name - and their parents would have a fit if they came to my house unescorted. If they came to my door when my wife was not at home, I would go outside to talk to them rather than invite them in for fear of being accused of luring them into my house intending them harm of one sort or another if they were alone with me.


Yes we have made some marvelous technological advances but I don't think we had to give up the personal closeness, friendliness and respect we had to achieve them.



For instance, we have twice as many people in this country today compared to about 1955/60 yet we generate (this is my opinion based on my own ad hoc experience) at least 10 times as much garbage - so the "waste/recycle" issue is NOT related to us not doing what we should have done it's related to present day packaging - more than a little of which is dictated by government. Just about everything I buy today the packaging has almost as much volume as the product - I get in my mail anywhere from 3 to 5 catalogs and/or advertisement flyers every day - that is in addition to the 50 or so emails that modern technology has allowed to "take the place of" paper ads - I often get both from the same company. I'm sorry but that is not because "we" neglected the planet.

 

[Rick P]

Except that all the things "we did back then" in the article ARE PART OF THINKING GREEN!

Hard to bash folks by agreeing with them.

 

[sbell111]

I remember my folks stopping by a broken down car on the highway, packing the folks home, putting them to bed, feeding them breakfast and then taking them to town the next morning when the service station was open.

Same scenario but instead, going home and getting a 5 gallon gas can, filling it from several of the 300 gallon tanks dad had, going back to the highway and putting the gas in the car for the folks.

Flash forward to today. Pull over to the side of the road on U.S. 2 in northern Montana, put your flashers on and count the number of people that stop.

Favorite story from a couple years ago. My brother-in-law stops to see if this guy on the side of the road needed help. The man looks at him and says, "What's with you people, you're the 3rd car to stop in 10 minutes. I'm just trying to eat my lunch."

It's not all gone...

A while back, before I replaced my old grand cherokee with the Avalanche, I was driving to the inlaws house when a hose from my transmission fluid cooler to my transmission failed. My transmission quickly pumped all of it's fluid onto the road and left me without transport. I grabbed my phone and called my wife to tell her my story of woe. Then I did an internet search on my phone to find a nearby transmission shop that was open late on a Saturday. I called them and they referred me to a local tow truck guy. A call to him and I was pretty set. I sat in my car for about twenty minutes waiting for the tow truck, watching a movie on my iPad and eating the kid's cookies. I needed no help. In fact, it was a nice break from life's dramas.

Back in the day, that breakdown would have been very stressful. I would have had to catch a ride to somewhere with a phonebooth (and phonebook) to make calls for a shop and tow truck. Then, I would have had to catch a ride back to my broken car to wait for the truck. A half hour of comfortable wait would have turned into probably a couple of hours of drama even if I was able to hitch rides back and forth pretty easily.

Here's my point:

Back in the day, you stopped and helped those people because they were basically trapped on the side of the road. Nowdays, people aren't likely to be trapped and in need of the help of strangers because they likely have already called someone to help them out, so the assumption is that people on the side of the road don't need help.

Actually Steve, if someone is on the side of the road and "trapped" today people (including myself) are a heck of a lot less likely to stop and help than they were then. And it isn't because we are "less likely" to need help, it's because they fear for their safety if they stop. The cold hard fact is (and I am saying this as one who has seen it both ways) people were nicer to each other and, in general, treated each other with more kindness and respect then than they do now.

As a teenager I and my peers knew every elderly person in town who might need some help if a big snow storm hit (and we went and helped them). We knew who didn't have a refrigerator and might need food if the roads weren't passable. Today kids that live half a block away don't even know my name - and their parents would have a fit if they came to my house unescorted. If they came to my door when my wife was not at home, I would go outside to talk to them rather than invite them in for fear of being accused of luring them into my house intending them harm of one sort or another if they were alone with me.


Yes we have made some marvelous technological advances but I don't think we had to give up the personal closeness, friendliness and respect we had to achieve them.



For instance, we have twice as many people in this country today compared to about 1955/60 yet we generate (this is my opinion based on my own ad hoc experience) at least 10 times as much garbage - so the "waste/recycle" issue is NOT related to us not doing what we should have done it's related to present day packaging - more than a little of which is dictated by government. Just about everything I buy today the packaging has almost as much volume as the product - I get in my mail anywhere from 3 to 5 catalogs and/or advertisement flyers every day - that is in addition to the 50 or so emails that modern technology has allowed to "take the place of" paper ads - I often get both from the same company. I'm sorry but that is not because "we" neglected the planet.

Just because you live in fear of everyone else doesn't mean everyone else does. I choose not to live in that fear. Further, I'll stand by my position because it is backed up by my experience. I used to stop for people who were broken down. I generally no longer do this because offers of help were denied because the other drivers had already phoned for assistance, just as I had in my given example.

 

[penhead]

Cost of IPAD: $800
Cost of I'net service: $50/month
Cost of cellphone & svc: $50/month
Cost of having a complete stranger stop and off you help, without fear of being shot/mugged = Priceless

Just sayin'

I remember my folks stopping by a broken down car on the highway, packing the folks home, putting them to bed, feeding them breakfast and then taking them to town the next morning when the service station was open.

Same scenario but instead, going home and getting a 5 gallon gas can, filling it from several of the 300 gallon tanks dad had, going back to the highway and putting the gas in the car for the folks.

Flash forward to today. Pull over to the side of the road on U.S. 2 in northern Montana, put your flashers on and count the number of people that stop.

Favorite story from a couple years ago. My brother-in-law stops to see if this guy on the side of the road needed help. The man looks at him and says, "What's with you people, you're the 3rd car to stop in 10 minutes. I'm just trying to eat my lunch."

It's not all gone...

A while back, before I replaced my old grand cherokee with the Avalanche, I was driving to the inlaws house when a hose from my transmission fluid cooler to my transmission failed. My transmission quickly pumped all of it's fluid onto the road and left me without transport. I grabbed my phone and called my wife to tell her my story of woe. Then I did an internet search on my phone to find a nearby transmission shop that was open late on a Saturday. I called them and they referred me to a local tow truck guy. A call to him and I was pretty set. I sat in my car for about twenty minutes waiting for the tow truck, watching a movie on my iPad and eating the kid's cookies. I needed no help. In fact, it was a nice break from life's dramas.

Back in the day, that breakdown would have been very stressful. I would have had to catch a ride to somewhere with a phonebooth (and phonebook) to make calls for a shop and tow truck. Then, I would have had to catch a ride back to my broken car to wait for the truck. A half hour of comfortable wait would have turned into probably a couple of hours of drama even if I was able to hitch rides back and forth pretty easily.

Here's my point:

Back in the day, you stopped and helped those people because they were basically trapped on the side of the road. Nowdays, people aren't likely to be trapped and in need of the help of strangers because they likely have already called someone to help them out, so the assumption is that people on the side of the road don't need help.

 

[Smitty37]

I remember my folks stopping by a broken down car on the highway, packing the folks home, putting them to bed, feeding them breakfast and then taking them to town the next morning when the service station was open.

Same scenario but instead, going home and getting a 5 gallon gas can, filling it from several of the 300 gallon tanks dad had, going back to the highway and putting the gas in the car for the folks.

Flash forward to today. Pull over to the side of the road on U.S. 2 in northern Montana, put your flashers on and count the number of people that stop.

Favorite story from a couple years ago. My brother-in-law stops to see if this guy on the side of the road needed help. The man looks at him and says, "What's with you people, you're the 3rd car to stop in 10 minutes. I'm just trying to eat my lunch."

It's not all gone...

A while back, before I replaced my old grand cherokee with the Avalanche, I was driving to the inlaws house when a hose from my transmission fluid cooler to my transmission failed. My transmission quickly pumped all of it's fluid onto the road and left me without transport. I grabbed my phone and called my wife to tell her my story of woe. Then I did an internet search on my phone to find a nearby transmission shop that was open late on a Saturday. I called them and they referred me to a local tow truck guy. A call to him and I was pretty set. I sat in my car for about twenty minutes waiting for the tow truck, watching a movie on my iPad and eating the kid's cookies. I needed no help. In fact, it was a nice break from life's dramas.

Back in the day, that breakdown would have been very stressful. I would have had to catch a ride to somewhere with a phonebooth (and phonebook) to make calls for a shop and tow truck. Then, I would have had to catch a ride back to my broken car to wait for the truck. A half hour of comfortable wait would have turned into probably a couple of hours of drama even if I was able to hitch rides back and forth pretty easily.

Here's my point:

Back in the day, you stopped and helped those people because they were basically trapped on the side of the road. Nowdays, people aren't likely to be trapped and in need of the help of strangers because they likely have already called someone to help them out, so the assumption is that people on the side of the road don't need help.

Actually Steve, if someone is on the side of the road and "trapped" today people (including myself) are a heck of a lot less likely to stop and help than they were then. And it isn't because we are "less likely" to need help, it's because they fear for their safety if they stop. The cold hard fact is (and I am saying this as one who has seen it both ways) people were nicer to each other and, in general, treated each other with more kindness and respect then than they do now.

As a teenager I and my peers knew every elderly person in town who might need some help if a big snow storm hit (and we went and helped them). We knew who didn't have a refrigerator and might need food if the roads weren't passable. Today kids that live half a block away don't even know my name - and their parents would have a fit if they came to my house unescorted. If they came to my door when my wife was not at home, I would go outside to talk to them rather than invite them in for fear of being accused of luring them into my house intending them harm of one sort or another if they were alone with me.


Yes we have made some marvelous technological advances but I don't think we had to give up the personal closeness, friendliness and respect we had to achieve them.



For instance, we have twice as many people in this country today compared to about 1955/60 yet we generate (this is my opinion based on my own ad hoc experience) at least 10 times as much garbage - so the "waste/recycle" issue is NOT related to us not doing what we should have done it's related to present day packaging - more than a little of which is dictated by government. Just about everything I buy today the packaging has almost as much volume as the product - I get in my mail anywhere from 3 to 5 catalogs and/or advertisement flyers every day - that is in addition to the 50 or so emails that modern technology has allowed to "take the place of" paper ads - I often get both from the same company. I'm sorry but that is not because "we" neglected the planet.

Just because you live in fear of everyone else doesn't mean everyone else does. I choose not to live in that fear. Further, I'll stand by my position because it is backed up by my experience. I used to stop for people who were broken down. I generally no longer do this because offers of help were denied because the other drivers had already phoned for assistance, just as I had in my given example.

I don't live in fear of everyone else, Steve. I just stated it the way it is.

I've had people take offence when I said "Hi big guy" or "Hi big girl" to their child in a supermarket even though I was pushing a shopping cart, kept moving, and they were within 5 feet. They'd say something like "We're trying to teach him/her not to talk to strangers"

Even here is small town Delaware last winter an elderly woman was asked for a ride by a 14 and a 15 year year old girl, she helped them out then they beat her up, stole her money, locked her in the trunk of her car, rode around for a long time, then took her to a remote area and left her in the cold, stole her car and went joy riding with their boyfriends. That sort of thing just didn't happen when I was a teenager.


A guy I worked with wife was raped and murdered when she stopped and offered assistance to a stranded driver. Fortunately he was caught because he used her credit card and was tracked down by that.


You say you don't stop because you assume your offer of assistance will be refused, never-the-less you don't stop and give them the chance to refuse.

 

[jttheclockman]

A Pet Peeve:

Can someone please explain why is everytime someone wants to answer someone's quote they have to copy the entire thing????????????? Boy is that annoying. Smitty you are a big offender of this with your answers that read like a book and then these get copied and these get copied. It gets to the point I do not know where to read the person's answer. Copy and paste the part you want to address. How hard is that to do. Put quotation marks around it if you want or put it in a different color.

 

[Smitty37]

A Pet Peeve:

Can someone please explain why is everytime someone wants to answer someone's quote they have to copy the entire thing????????????? Boy is that annoying. Smitty you are a big offender of this with your answers that read like a book and then these get copied and these get copied. It gets to the point I do not know where to read the person's answer. Copy and paste the part you want to address. How hard is that to do. Put quotation marks around it if you want or put it in a different color.

I do it just to tick you off JT:biggrin::biggrin: Actually I've never learned how to take just part of a quote and put it in a response while still attributing the quote to its author....maybe someday before I turn my toes up and assume the permanent horizontal I'll learn.

 

[Russianwolf]

slightly different view.

You were young at a time when "green" was the norm. You didn't have an option to not be green.

Times changed and the disposable world came along. Did you say "No, this isn't good for the world" or did you go along with the new norm?

Now, the norm is disposable and we've seen the impact, so people are actively trying to be "green" for the future.

What the norm was in the past is not relevant.

Also, I would point out that the older generation raised the next generation and guided them in raising the next and so on. So if the generations are getting worse, who is responsible for it?

 

[jttheclockman]

A Pet Peeve:

.

I do it just to tick you off JT:biggrin::biggrin: Actually I've never learned how to take just part of a quote and put it in a response while still attributing the quote to its author....maybe someday before I turn my toes up and assume the permanent horizontal I'll learn.

Smitty

I bet it is not only me you are pissing off but it seems that I am the only one that voices their opinions freely. Click on quote as you normally do.Then to do what I said is very very simple and you too can do it. Just highlite all the things you do not want posted and then right click on them which are now blue and options appear. Click on delete and everything you highlited is gone just like magic. You do know how to highlite things right???

 

[Paul in OKC]

I did my part back then. Collected them bottles from around and turned them into candy money! (Guess I helped the dentist, too!)

 

[Smitty37]

slightly different view.

You were young at a time when "green" was the norm. You didn't have an option to not be green.

Times changed and the disposable world came along. Did you say "No, this isn't good for the world" or did you go along with the new norm?

Now, the norm is disposable and we've seen the impact, so people are actively trying to be "green" for the future.

What the norm was in the past is not relevant.

Also, I would point out that the older generation raised the next generation and guided them in raising the next and so on. So if the generations are getting worse, who is responsible for it?

That's a cop out.

I pretty much lived my life with the values of my parents butI assure you that my children do not live the way they were raised and their upbringing has had little or nothing to do with how they are raising their children. They are responsible for what they do - right or wrong.

 

[sbell111]

Back in the day, you stopped and helped those people because they were basically trapped on the side of the road. Nowdays, people aren't likely to be trapped and in need of the help of strangers because they likely have already called someone to help them out, so the assumption is that people on the side of the road don't need help.

Actually Steve, if someone is on the side of the road and "trapped" today people (including myself) are a heck of a lot less likely to stop and help than they were then. And it isn't because we are "less likely" to need help, it's because they fear for their safety if they stop.

Just because you live in fear of everyone else doesn't mean everyone else does. I choose not to live in that fear. Further, I'll stand by my position because it is backed up by my experience. I used to stop for people who were broken down. I generally no longer do this because offers of help were denied because the other drivers had already phoned for assistance, just as I had in my given example.

I don't live in fear of everyone else, Steve. I just stated it the way it is.

You stated that you no longer stop because your fear for your safety and you then extrapolated that to assume that no one stops for others for the same reason.

I've had people take offence when I said "Hi big guy" or "Hi big girl" to their child in a supermarket even though I was pushing a shopping cart, kept moving, and they were within 5 feet. They'd say something like "We're trying to teach him/her not to talk to strangers"

I think that you are comparing apples to oranges. Just because someone doesn't want strange adults talking to their small children (and vice versa) doesn't mean that those same adults are afraid of you in any way. I've had to warn a creepy guy at church to leave my little girl alone. Had he not headed my warning, he might have seen just how much that I was personally unafraid of him.

Even here is small town Delaware last winter an elderly woman was asked for a ride by a 14 and a 15 year year old girl, she helped them out then they beat her up, stole her money, locked her in the trunk of her car, rode around for a long time, then took her to a remote area and left her in the cold, stole her car and went joy riding with their boyfriends. That sort of thing just didn't happen when I was a teenager.

A guy I worked with wife was raped and murdered when she stopped and offered assistance to a stranded driver. Fortunately he was caught because he used her credit card and was tracked down by that.

Evil is not new.

You say you don't stop because you assume your offer of assistance will be refused, never-the-less you don't stop and give them the chance to refuse.

I said that I typically no longer stop because my experience has found that my assistance is no longer needed or wanted. My further experience is that when I have been broken down, I neither needed nor wanted help from random strangers.

It should also be noted that I don't know where you are going with your last comment. If it simple agreement that people generally don't stop to help for whatever reason, then I am in a lost as to why you previously responded to my post, at all, since my point was that people stop less nowadays and that their stopping is no longer necessary.

 

[sbell111]

slightly different view.

You were young at a time when "green" was the norm. You didn't have an option to not be green.

Times changed and the disposable world came along. Did you say "No, this isn't good for the world" or did you go along with the new norm?

Now, the norm is disposable and we've seen the impact, so people are actively trying to be "green" for the future.

What the norm was in the past is not relevant.

Also, I would point out that the older generation raised the next generation and guided them in raising the next and so on. So if the generations are getting worse, who is responsible for it?

That's a cop out.

I pretty much lived my life with the values of my parents butI assure you that my children do not live the way they were raised and their upbringing has had little or nothing to do with how they are raising their children. They are responsible for what they do - right or wrong.

I think that your point is the cop out. I believe that it is often a point that is made by parents who screwed the parenting pooch.

 

[Smitty37]

slightly different view.

You were young at a time when "green" was the norm. You didn't have an option to not be green.

Times changed and the disposable world came along. Did you say "No, this isn't good for the world" or did you go along with the new norm?

Now, the norm is disposable and we've seen the impact, so people are actively trying to be "green" for the future.

What the norm was in the past is not relevant.

Also, I would point out that the older generation raised the next generation and guided them in raising the next and so on. So if the generations are getting worse, who is responsible for it?

That's a cop out.

I pretty much lived my life with the values of my parents butI assure you that my children do not live the way they were raised and their upbringing has had little or nothing to do with how they are raising their children. They are responsible for what they do - right or wrong.

I think that your point is the cop out. I believe that it is often a point that is made by parents who screwed the parenting pooch.

Steve, I have asked you many times to not get personal (and don't try to say that comment is not personal). I can sincerely wish for you that your children turn out as well as mine have.

 

[Smitty37]

Just because someone doesn't want strange adults talking to their small children (and vice versa) doesn't mean that those same adults are afraid of you in any way. I've had to warn a creepy guy at church to leave my little girl alone. Had he not headed my warning, he might have seen just how much that I was personally unafraid of him.

Why don't they want strange adults to "pass the time of day" with their children in a very public place? Tell me that's not fear. Not them being afraid of me personally - they could obviously see that at my age I could not attack and overcome healthy young adults in the prime of their life - not fear that I would personally cause their children harm I made no overt or covert movement in the direction of their children...merely greeted them - most people smile when I do that. So while you are right they didn't fear me personally they feared something...it's that fear that did not exist when I was young.

Also I think you were afraid = afraid that the "creepy" guy might do something to harm your child. That is not equated with fear for yourself but it is never-the-less fear. I don't blame you for that at all but don't kid yourself into believing it isn't fear.

Happy JT?

 

[jttheclockman]

Better. See that wasn't too hard even for an old fogey like you. :biggrin: Now if everyone else would stop posting a mile long posts then things will be right in my world. :biggrin: I see you have found another thread to engage tit for tat in. Boy you are good at this. :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin: