CCK08 Why Am I Investing the Hours?

Today there was an Elluminate discussion on the logistics of the course.
I've been a houswife for 24 years - so how many letters do I need after my name, and if it triples my salary that's still nothing. And I certainly have no expectations of ongoing contact with course members as I have nothing to offer that would make me part of their network. So why put in all the hours?
When I was 17, a city professor knocked on the door and asked my farmer's-wife mom to help a couple of Masters Degree candidates with their theses on the Baldoon settlement - one was in Geography on drainage and one was in History and involved geneologies. It became her passion for the next 20 years. She became the world's greatest unrecognized expert on the Baldoon settlement. She died at 79 after a 10 year descent into Alzheimers but her bulb had shone brightly before it flickered and dimmed and finally burnt out.
I am putting in the hours for her and for my daugher. God gave my mother a marvellous gift and I don't want that ever forgotten. A university professor she had never met before gave her an opportunity - the only opportunity she ever had to discover and display her intellect. She opened the door for me to leave the farm and go to university and I opened the door wider for my daughter.