Earn this.
c. 1600 "act of estimating the quality and worth of something," from French appréciation, noun of action from apprécier (14c.), from Late Latin appretiare "estimate the quality of" (see appreciate).Generally with a sense of "high estimation" after c. 1650; the sense of "a rise in value" is by 1784; that of "act of setting a value on" is from 1799. The meaning "expression of (favorable) estimation" is from 1858. There is an isolated use of appreciacioun in Middle English (c. 1400) of uncertain meaning.
"liveliness, briskness," mid-15c., from Latin alacritatem (nominative alacritas) "liveliness, ardor, eagerness," from alacer (genitive alacris) "cheerful, brisk, lively;" a word of uncertain origin. Perhaps cognate with Gothic aljan "zeal," Old English ellen "courage, zeal, strength," Old High German ellian. But de Vaan suggests the root sense is "to wander, roam" and sees a possible connection with ambulare.
earn (v.)
Old English earnian "deserve, earn, merit, labor for, win, get a reward for labor," from Proto-Germanic *aznon "do harvest work, serve" (source also of Old Frisian esna "reward, pay"), denominative verb from *azno "labor" especially "field labor" (source of Old Norse önn "work in the field," Old High German arnon "to reap"), from PIE root *es-en- "harvest, fall" (source also of Old High German aren "harvest, crop," German Ernte "harvest," Old English ern "harvest," Gothic asans "harvest, summer," Old Church Slavonic jeseni, Russian osen, Old Prussian assanis "autumn"). Also from the same root are Gothic asneis, Old High German esni "hired laborer, day laborer," Old English esne "serf, laborer, man." Related: Earned; earning.
From then California Governor Ronald Reagan's 1967 Inaugural Address ...
If some of you glanced up at the flag today that's here on the platform, you might have been puzzled by its rather small size on this particular occasion. Well there is an explanation. That flag was carried into battle in Vietnam by young men of California. Many of those men will not be coming home. One did, grievously wounded, Sergeant Robert Howell is with us here today. He brought that flag back to us. They were proud enough to carry it, and I thought we'd be proud to have it fly here at the Capitol on this occasion today.
Sergeant, that flag might even serve to put our problems in better perspective. It might remind us that we need to give our sons and daughters a cause to believe in and banners to follow.
No generation has fought longer and harder for freedom or paid a higher price than ours. But the fulfillment of our destiny demands more. We can make this way of life we call a state, we call California, a place of unlimited opportunity, a golden dream for all who have the courage to dare.
If this is a dream, it's a good dream, and it's worthy of our generation and is worth passing on to the next. This is the eventual fulfillment of our destiny. I have every confidence that we, a little ahead of the Sergeant's generation, a little older, who have lived through three wars and a cataclysmic depression, I believe that we're capable of fulfilling our destiny. We can pass this dream on, so worthy of us and worth passing on to the next.
And all we should make our minds up to today is: Let this day mark the beginning of that fulfillment.
What do we do with our gifts, our talents, our opportunities? How do we live in appreciation of the sacrifices made by those who came before? How do we carry ourselves in light of our benefits ... and setbacks? What do we do to earn the freedoms paid for by the sacrifices made by those who dreamed us worthy? How do our actions sustain the dream and how will we insure it?
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