You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: tell me a story
You: once upon a time, there was a little boy who was born in a prison
Stranger: mmmhhmm go on
You: he grew up an outcast, rejected by everyone around him
You: the people who raised him taught him about the law, and how it was very important to follow the law and never ever break it
You: so when he grew up, he decided that there were two kinds of people that other people didn't like: criminals, and policemen
Stranger: ooooh ooh
You: and he decided to be a policeman because he wanted to follow the law
You: one day a convict broke parole, and the policeman chased him across the country
Stranger: omg then what:o
You: the convict took a new name, and the policeman tried as hard as he could - he searched everywhere - but he could not find the convict
You: seventeen years later, a revolution was brewing
You: the policeman went undercover to see if he could spy on the revolutionaries, but he got caught
Stranger: :O
You: the leader of the revolutionaries was going to kill him, but then a man stepped up and offered to do it himself
You: it was the convict from seventeen years ago
Stranger: WHAT
You: the convict took him into an alley, and took out a knife
You: and he cut the policeman's bonds, and told him that he was free to go
You: the policeman couldn't believe it. a convict is a convict is a convict, a bad person, who can never change. but this convict had showed him kindness
Stranger: :OOO
You: the policeman went about his duty, and when the revolution had been successfully squashed, he ran into the convict again. the convict had an injured man with him
You: the policeman told him that he was going to take him to jail, but the convict pleaded a few hours' time, so he could get the injured man back to his family
You: and against every instinct, the policeman let him go
You: he could not believe what he had done. on the one hand, he had broken the law that he had sworn to uphold. on the other hand, he had helped a good man do a good deed.
Stranger: wooooah
You: he wanted to go back and arrest the convict. but again: on the one hand, if he did so, he would be upholding the law, and on the other hand, he would be arresting a good man.
You: his entire world had been turned upside down
You: he realized that if a convict could be a good person, then there had probably been hundreds of good people he had unknowingly put in jail. his whole life had been a lie.
Stranger: omg
You: so he did the only thing he could do
You: or at least, the only thing he thought possible
You: he committed suicide
Stranger: WHAT?
You: that's right. he wrote a letter to the prefect of police, pointing out various corruptions in the system, and he went to a bridge overlooking the most dangerous part of the river, and, placing his hat on the edge of the bridge, he jumped
Stranger: did you just randomly make this up?
Stranger: thats some george orwell shit
You: no, actually. it's victor hugo
Stranger: ...
You: les misérables.
Stranger: fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Your conversational partner has disconnected.