Corina's mother - an inspiration

Corina Zheng (picture above, lying down) was born with Werdnig Hoffman, a rare disease in which the spinal nerve cells and brain cells degenerate, leading to atrophy of skeletal muscles and paralysis.  She passed away last week at the age of 50 years.

What struck me was that she taught her illiterate mother how to type (in English) 10 years ago, so that her mother could help type the notes that Corina loved sending to her friends.

"Corina told me: "I told her to look at each key on the keyboard and tell me what it reminded her of.  She said the letter S reminded her of a snake, C a half moon and ? and inverted fish hook." Together they worked out a system and her mother would help type the notes ..."

After reading this article, I wonder how many of us literates shy away from learning a new language, giving lame excuses.  Corina's mother was selfless.  She may not have been able to read or write, but she devoted herself to her daughter, not just to taking care of her physical needs, but also her emotional needs - the need to write to friends.

I learned languages mainly for selfish reasons - to communicate with people who couldn't speak my language.  Corina's mother learned to type for selfless reasons - so her daughter could communicate with others.  If this old, illiterate lady can learn the English alphabet to be able to type in English, what's stopping anyone of us from learning a language?

Happy learning!