Among the sites at this 727-acre space in Fort Lee NJ (which
I photographed in July 2018) is this statue by Charles Tefft that evokes one of
the most famous passages in Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis:
“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.”
Every age has its “times that try men’s souls.” These
days are ours—maybe not as dramatic as when Paine published his lines in
December 1776, just 72 hours before Battle of Trenton, but still a time when
the spirit of freedom needs to be defended.
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