Ornamental

This morning my mom dropped by with a coffee grinder and some organic sumatra whole beans which aptly go by the name of Veritas. They've temporarily moved out of their house while some people drill holes in the ceiling. At least, that's how I understand the situation, perhaps because it was explained to me in such a way that I should already know what it all means. Yesterday my mom loaded me up with some tuna, leftover fried rice and steak, a 2/3 full bottle of merlot, and some grape juice. "Here, now you take these and be on your way."

My exploration of the history of the English language winds its way into the Renaissance period, during which we see the language overcoming a great deal of opposition in order to become that of the learned men in their own country. With a great deal of struggle for its place against Latin, the age-old tongue of the learned, and no small amount of providence, English emerges triumphant and is established as a world voice for liberty and learning.
In a heart-quickening burst of foresight, Richard Mulcaster writes:

"I take this present period of our English tung to be the verie height therof, bycause I find it so excellentlie well fined, both for the bodie of the tung it self, and for the customarie writing thereof, as either foren workmanship can give it glosse, or as homewrought hanling can give it grace. When the age of our peple, which now use the tung so well, is dead and departed there will another succede, and with the peple the tung will alter and change. Which change in the full harvest thereof maie prove comparable to this, but sure for this which we now use, it semeth even now to be at the best for substance, and the bravest for circumstance, and whatsoever shall becom of the English state, the English tung cannot prove fairer, then it is at this daie, if it maie please our learned sort to esteme so of it, and to bestow their travell upon such a subject, so capable of ornament, so proper to themselves, and the more to be honored, bycause it is their own."

Because it is their own...If you could see me, I swoon. ;o) How scarce are men these days who feel no shame in loving that which is their own. Modern, tolerant thought lines these men up against the wall and shoots them in the back. Any spark of patriotism seems to have become suspect. To love your own kind, to fight for your nation's security, to be blessed with that which has been given to you and to protect it- this is what it means to be a man. I respect those who love their own kind, not to the exclusion of all others, but to take joy in what is their own and to possess the courage to fight for it. For who has breath or being except that it has been given to him by God? And if it has been given to him by God, then why should he not be filled with passion and fight for that which is rightfully his? We possess no liberty except that which we claim and fight for as children of the God who gave it. Liberty is not an arbitrary value of prosperous men. Liberty is divine. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Where it is not, there is bondage. In all this reading of history, I am wooed, not by the words of the men themselves, but by the Invisible Hand that turned the world for their favor, inspiring the brave words the left their lips in moments of great courage, that Spirit that fought through their swords and brought victory to their hands. I am dizzy in love with the Master of this dangerous, untamable power. For who can claim that he is here on this earth of his own power? And though the lips of mortal man may be so kissably carved and bring forth the most eloquent thoughts and impressions, I see always behind them the indelible image of the Lover Himself, who has destined man for liberty. If my God gave me a crown of liberty, with ornaments all around, and if this tyrannical, death-minded world has stolen the ornaments and sought to destroy me, you had better believe that He will forcefully and systematically cause my enemies to hand over the ornaments or be annihilated, that I may live adorned as He so pleases. It is a fearful thing to stand between the God of the Universe and that which He desires. Why? Because He loves me. I will never be ashamed to surrender to the embrace of one who fights for me.

"For is it not in dede a marvellous bondage, to becom servants to one tung for learning sake, the most of our time, with losse of most time, whereas we maie have the verie same treasur in our own tung, with the gain of most time? Our own bearing the joyfull title of our libertie and fredom, the Latin tung remembring us of our thraldom and bondage? I love Rome, but London better, I favor Italie, but England more, I honor the Latin, but I worship the English." -Mulcaster