Although I do not follow sports often, I read a New York Times article on the football player Tom Brady. He allegedly damaged his cell phone to destroy incriminating evidence. A query had been sent out to the Times’ readers asking how they would destroy a cell phone if they had to. The survey elicited more than 2500 responses which included the use of blenders, mallets, grinders, fires, and microwave ovens. The Times published “the best.”

A number of people suggested throwing the phone into a river. Insuring the phone sank, they assumed the information would be lost forever. But my first thought was, “What about the river?!” No one seemed at all concerned about polluting the river.

In the early seventies a public campaign, from “Keep America Beautiful,” was aired on television. It showed a Native American, in traditional attire, canoeing through the ravages of industrial waste, walking through trash and then being hit with litter. The commercial ended with a close-up of his face and a tear falling slowly down his cheek. I’ve never forgotten it.

Knowing there are people who can think of throwing a cell phone in a river, I am hoping the commercial will air again.