Effort for change

Blood, sweat and tears

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This expression, meaning excessive
effort exerted under trying circumstances, is often attributed to famous
favorite sons, such as Winston Churchill, Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain. Though
these fine gentlemen certainly utilized it, none of them were its author. The
root of it comes from the Bible in Luke 22:44:

“And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and
his sweat was as it were great drops
of blood falling down to the
ground.” (KJV)

Though this verse does not use the word
‘tears,’ it is implied, and was used in the first known printed reference to
the phrase in the English translation of Sermons on Various Subjects by
Christmas Evans (1766-1838), translated from the Welsh by J. Davis, 1837:

“Christ the High Priest of our profession, when he laid down
his life for us on Calvary, was bathed in his own blood, sweat and tears.” 

Evans, sometimes
dubbed ‘the John Bunyan of Wales,’ came about his Christian name due to his
birth on 25 December 1766. A lot of blood, sweat
and tears have gone into making our nation what it became: the greatest nation
on earth. The forces of evil would like to tear it down.