From reading a bus stop sign to the newspaper or even reading a good night story to your children, words are all around us. But imagine going through life, knowing the words on the pages mean nothing to you.
For Royal Oak resident, David Mullins, 64 years of his life were spent thinking just that.
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"It is very difficult, very difficult, even catching a bus," said Mullins. "If you can't read where the bus is going, you may end up. God only knows where! I memorized my address, phone number and that stuff, but that's it. I said if you want more your going to have to do it."
Mullins heard about the Oakland Literacy Council in 2012 and his life has forever been changed.
"There are pockets of anywhere between 13-15 percent illiterate within our county," said Oakland Literacy Services coordinator, Julie Hoensheid. "We service both basic students, which are native English speaking people, as well as foreign born- or E.S.L- English is a second language.
At the Oakland Literacy Council, adults wanting to learn how to read are paired with tutors.
"Every person who comes through here is just here because they want to be," said Hoensheid. "They are giving from their hearts, they are not getting paid, they are volunteers."
"Literacy has always been really important to me," said volunteer tutor, Gabrielle Erken, " So I said let me find a way to use my skills and I love working with adults.
"I was a custodian working for the school district, 34 years," said Mullins. "At my job that I did, I was scared to death all the time. I never knew what was going to happen if I got exposed, cause I hid it really well."
Now after years of working with an Oakland Literacy tutor, David has begun to read by himself.
"I can read better now," said Mullins. "I can do e-mails to my brothers and sisters and to Gerry. I really enjoy that."
When I found out there were so many people that were illiterate in Oakland County," said Gerry Semanson, David's volunteer tutor. "Well I would have never been able to get a job if I could not read, that motivated me to contact the Oakland Lit office and join up."
Semanson worked for 31 years as a writer.
"If you can't read or write you can't do anything, you're very handicapped," said Semanson.
"He understands where I am coming from," said Mullins. " He doesn't try to embarrass me or anyone of his student."
Typically, the students and tutors will get together for an hour a week and start working on some basic reading skills. The tutors will test their students on reading comprehension, have them complete assignments based on their readings, and even assign some homework.
"She gave me some easy book and I read the book," said E.S.L student Soonteok Lee.
"We read books. I have a book, he has a book, and we follow along," said Mullins. "I do most of the reading and there is some writing that we do and some crossword puzzles."
For Mullins, the effort is paying off.
"We are on our fifth book and before that he just retired, he could never read books," said Semanson. "So I think that is a great source of satisfaction."
This year, the Oakland Literacy Council has over 300 students.
"We have retired teachers, we have people who just love reading, people that are giving and just want to help someone else," said Hoensheid.
"They want you to know that you got someone here for you," said student Mecca Blander.
For the tutors at Oakland Literacy, volunteering their time is the least they could do for their community.
"If you like to read and write, help somebody else out," said Semanson.
"I see time and time again," said Hoensheid. "Little do you suspect how much your own life will be better and how much your own life will change and grow from helping someone
"We are always looking for people to tutor," said Hoensheid. "We are a Force 4 Good because we are helping people become part of the community, become more educated, better themselves.
As for Mullins, his future is full of books.
"Its like a prisoner being let out, he can go through a door without someone having to unlock it for him," said Mullins. "I don't want to be embarrassed any more, I want to be able to pick up a newspaper and read it."