Except that the reference in question would have caused a lifetime error in rust which would have required the developrs to explictly acknowledge the choice the

Except that the reference in question would have caused a lifetime error in rust which would have required the developrs to explictly acknowledge the choice they were making, likely by changing a bunch of types. Yes you could still do it in rust, but any reviwer of the code would say "why in the world are you doing it this way" because it would be forced into a complex cross call monstrosity.