Going Red

The other day I had heard enough. Actually, maybe I had heard it enough awhile ago and had just realized it.

Oh, I remember what sparked my inner tirade. Wal-mart is "going green." Makes me want to use language I only hear when people are angry or not creative.

How many of us are duped into participating in our own manipulation?

(This is not a rant about Wal-mart.)

Ever since I was young I was taught to conserve energy, spend money wisely, and keep what could be used again. Reduce, reuse, recycle, right? Turn out the lights when I leave a room. Do not use all the lights in a room unless it is necessary. If you value your life, turn off the water when you brush your teeth. When you drink all the milk, and you better drink every bit you poured into glass, rinse the milk container out so we can use it to make sweet tea in. Once I even expounded on our "recycling" lifestyle and began making hair bows out of used dryer sheets.

Growing up I was the oldest in a family of five children thriving on one income. My dad always had a garden and we bought used cars. I heard someone (I think it was a commercial) say that they wouldn't have minded paying a few extra (and unnecessary) fees a few years (months?) ago but now... no way. This person wants to know exactly how much money she has and what the investor will do with it. Wait a minute, INVESTOR? Are we still talking about conservation and surviving in "difficult" economic times?

To act like you don't care about what you are given when there is plenty is just as irresponsible as not being able to provide when times are lean. I know not everyone abides by principles of honesty and wisdom, but it annoys my inner sanctum when they act like they do until everything is OK again.

I heard someone say that certain states in America are suffering economically more than others and that my state isn't suffering as much because we didn't have excess spending in the first place. If luxury industries are the first to suffer when we want to restrict our spending then we are fortunate to have a very small luxury industry. We do have a large gaming industry but that is another topic.

I understand that the term "going green" does not only mean someone is being more conservative with money or time. It usually means using less chemicals and more organics. Great. But please don't act like it is a new thing, and please, please, don't act like it was your idea. And please, please, please don't tell me when you go back to your previous way of doing things when the economic pendulum swings back the other way.