Rivers also have life, yet the vast majority of people are unaware of this fact.
People believe rivers are eternal, enduring with heaven and earth, but in reality, rivers are more fragile than one might imagine.
The depletion of their sources, river rerouting, even the decrease in riverbank vegetation, all affect the longevity of rivers.
The way a river dies, seen from the sky looking down, resembles a vast and shriveled pocket; the sunken riverbed devoid of water, leaving only gash-like cracks arranged neatly where the deepest waterline should have been.
If such scars appeared on a person, it would be called a ghastly death, but when it happens to a river, no one would weep, much less mourn.
Perhaps people would feel reluctant, for it means they must relocate; what they are reluctant about is their homeland, not the river.
Yet rivers also possess life, just as people show signs of death, rivers do too, often more visibly.
