A more mature friend recently sent me an e-mail about how the older generation knew how to recycle. They also knew how to save way before anyone of my generation did. It was one of those smug little diddies written by some person who was a child of the depression or a child whose parents had lived during the depression. Now, don’t get me wrong! I agree that more seasoned folks understood how to reduce, reuse and recycle and better yet knew how not to accumulate in the beginning, but somewhere along the way they, forgot. So needless to say I wasn’t necessarily impressed with its sentiment.

I remember way back when, the 1970s, as my niece would say, forever ago, when I was a small child that my Mother did all kinds of “crazy” things to use over and save. A glass jar never got thrown away empty. It was always used to put leftover grease in it so we wouldn’t clog the drains. Margarine papers were used to grease cookie sheets. We were constantly reminded not to stand and stare at the contents of the refrigerator or close the door as we went outside. Don’t waste electricity was the cry! Today, I prefer the colloquial, “Don’t let all the bought air out the door”. We had one car and we carpooled. My sister wore hand me downs from me until the age of five when she equaled me in height and then I started getting her hand me downs. We shared toys as gifts. But then somewhere in the 80s it all changed. We all got our own stuff. And it was our parents thinking they were doing the right thing and…for that place and time they were doing the right thing.

Read More