- Our heroes are flawed.
- Life doesn't come without struggle.
Not only do we put it in a nice little package, but we also glamorize, sanitize, and romanticize our history. We tend to focus on American patriotism in around national holidays.
- Independence on July 4
- Veterans in September
- Fallen warriors in May
- Our national flag in June
But 18th century winters seem to be very significant to our life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. While it was July when the Declaration of Independence was signed, by December the War for Independence was not going well. English-born Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet to encourage the populace. The pamphlet was called The Crisis; the opening paragraph went like this:
“THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated."
He discouraged patriots from being fair weather fans - those individuals who follow their team only in victory and renounce them in defeat: "The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country,"
He recognized that freedom is not free: "What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value."
Interestingly, Paine raises the comparison of the Revolution with Heaven: "Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods."