In every man's life there are times for changes, times for rediscovery of who you are, what you want, what you percieve, what you believe. Every man is tried, every man is found wanting... but every man must try, and every man must want.

We are a people of passions, of juxtapositions, of wisdom and ignorance, hope and despair, love and hate, all mixed within our blood and marrow in a power that cannot be denied.

But we are also a people of judgement... and mercy. It is mercy that makes us human, hope that gives mercy the power to become such, and wisdom that combats the ignorance that makes men mad.

We only see what we see. We only judge by what we see, what we perceive, and what we feel about ourselves... and it is madness to assume what you see, and judge are the truth.

The following videos are those of a man... a man who was a prisoner, twenty years, for breaking a windowpane, to steal a loaf of bread to feed his family. Ten years, for the theft, and ten for attempting to escape the hard labor. He was released on parole, and nobody would help him, none would give him a place to stay, even overnight. None would allow him to work, for the felon's mark upon his chest and the papers in his hand.



Looking at the grace given by the priest... and after the theft...



A man had lifted a cart off of another, and was identified by Javert as Jean Valjean.. and the mayor, the real Valjean, was faced with a choice to destroy all he'd worked for, or let an innocent man go to prison in his place.



Just before this, Fantine is dying... and has charged Valjean to save her daughter from the owners of an inn she left them with.



It is a story of grace, of redemption, of the pursuit of the law. It is a story of two men, and the society they lived in, at diametric opposites, but inextricably linked.

It is a story of judgment. The villains in this piece are not who they seem... for the law seeks to merely uphold the law, the criminal seeks a new life... and the clash between law and mercy holds all in its grasp.

The people caught in conditions without hope, the loss of the beloved voice of the people... it all circles round and about into a story that cannot be ignored. It, in its own way, is a story of morals... and of the damage that can be done in the judgment of society.

And of the costs of attempting to reach for freedom.... For all freedoms there is a cost, paid in blood. Paid in lives, in hopes, in dreams... but is then freedom not worth it? There are no lives without it, no hope, no dreams. Freedom is the source of hopes, and dreams.

Freedom is worth any cost.










In the sewers, Valjean carries the wounded Marius... and as Marius sleeps, Valjean prays.




At the end, Javert comes to some realizations, as well.. his pursuit of Valjean has become the purpose of his life... and he has realized that his pursuit is injust.




Though it may cost me all I have, though it may cost me my life... it cannot cost me my eternal soul to fight for freedom. Though my life is stained and soiled, and I cannot change what has occurred, I can work for the future, for the freedom of all men. From tyranny, from hate, from injustice. That is the course of life... and even if I fall, I will die a Free man, for I die by the means of my own choosing, not by those who would make me a slave. This is my oath, to all that is holy, that I will, on my honor, strive to make the world a place for freedom, for justice, for mercy, for honor... or die in the attempt.