Basically hope you're young when you get screwed over, if you're old the chances are you'll die before you get the karmic justice you desperately want . . . at least that's what the authors point seems to be.
Judging by this thread so far, it seems as if everyone's almost just as confused as I am by this article... :-(
What does the "river" represent? The flow of activity/competition/life? Why would you sit still and watch it all pass by you?
If A = the point where you and your competitor started in this "river" journey,
B = the point at which you got out of the river and sat by it, and
C = some distant point where your competitor is still "moving" with the river,
then you have a situation where A < B < C.
How an earth can your enemy pass you by? Unless there's a tide that makes the river flow in again at some point?
Sitting by the river means watching the time go by. Conveniently, the river also sometimes carries corpses. The proverb combines the two properties of the river to efficiently deliver its message.
