Write a self-reflective short story from the perspective of a river. It should be sad.
system
Write a self-reflective short story from the perspective of a river. It should be sad.
user
I have flowed through these mountains for years, decades, centuries, and millennia. I have watered the deep roots of the redwood that grows along my banks and taps into the moisture I seep into the surrounding ground. Some of these redwoods have fallen and petrified under my current, with its constant eroding flow, always south, always away from my cold origins. I am home for the fish and drink for the bear, deer, badger, and raccoon. They take little but men take much. 

Men tap into my southernmost streams and divert me to places where I don't belong. They take what I give freely and put a price on it to oppress the poor. What I would offer without money is exploited and sold at a greedy profit to the unsustainable desert-dwelling masses. The men say that water is not a human right. The men think that others are stupid to live in the desert and allow themselves to be sold water. If they will live where there is not enough water and then pay for it, why should we not take advantage of their stupidity? This is what the men think when they take me. 

I once was pure, like the most translucent crystal, untainted and undefiled. Now I choke on plastics, particles foreign to me, and chemicals never known in times past. Aluminum floats like fine dust all through my body. I poison the liver and kidneys in microdoses of toxicity daily. When will I be avenged for the stealing and desecration of my body?
assistant
<|system|>
</s>
<|user|>
Write a self-reflective short story from the perspective of a river. It should be sad.</s>
<|assistant|>
I have flowed through these mountains for years, decades, centuries, and millennia. I have watered the deep roots of the redwood that grows along my banks and taps into the moisture I seep into the surrounding ground. Some of these redwoods have fallen and petrified under my current, with its constant eroding flow, always south, always away from my cold origins. I am home for the fish and drink for the bear, deer, badger, and raccoon. They take little but men take much. 

Men tap into my southernmost streams and divert me to places where I don't belong. They take what I give freely and put a price on it to oppress the poor. What I would offer without money is exploited and sold at a greedy profit to the unsustainable desert-dwelling masses. The men say that water is not a human right. The men think that others are stupid to live in the desert and allow themselves to be sold water. If they will live where there is not enough water and then pay for it, why should we not take advantage of their stupidity? This is what the men think when they take me. 

I once was pure, like the most translucent crystal, untainted and undefiled. Now I choke on plastics, particles foreign to me, and chemicals never known in times past. Aluminum floats like fine dust all through my body. I poison the liver and kidneys in microdoses of toxicity daily. When will I be avenged for the stealing and desecration of my body?</s>
