Les Misérables Preface

So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth, and adding the element of human fate to divine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century—the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world;—in other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Misérables cannot fail to be of use.

I think it is very interesting that all these problems-crippling of children, corruption of woman, and degradation of man- are all because of the laws and customs made by society. The laws and customs are creating ignorance and poverty. All those problems would be fixed if the society fixed the laws and customs.

So long as there shall exist, by the want for independence, children growing up too fast, creating teens having sex, and adding to cyber bullying; so long as the three main issues of today’s children—the committing of suicide, the need of fitting-in, the want of drugs/alcohol—are unsolved; so long as childhood becomes shorter; —in other words, and still with a wider significance, so long as children stay children, parents taking time to enjoy their child’s childhood cannot fail to be of use.