--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: My family spent many years sleeping side…" description: "\"My family spent many years sleeping side by side in the same room. It's important for me to not separate myself from them or to say that I've suffered ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/120/abdellah-taia-44495_connected_my-family-spent-many-years-sleeping-side_1259943.jpg" --- # My family spent many years sleeping side by side in the… ![“My family spent many years sleeping side by side in the same room. It's important for me to not separate myself from them or to say that I've suffered more than they have because I'm gay. We all suffered from the same political rejection, and from poverty. When you're starving with eleven other…” quote by Abdellah Taia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/120/abdellah-taia-44495_connected_my-family-spent-many-years-sleeping-side_1259943.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/120/abdellah-taia-44495_connected_my-family-spent-many-years-sleeping-side_1259943.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/120/abdellah-taia-44495_connected_my-family-spent-many-years-sleeping-side_1259943.jpg) > “My family spent many years sleeping side by side in the same room. It's important for me to not separate myself from them or to say that I've suffered more than they have because I'm gay. We all suffered from the same political rejection, and from poverty. When you're starving with eleven other people in the same room, you become connected to them forever. We were all hungry at the same time.” [Abdellah Taia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abdellah-taia/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Shared hardship creates deep, lasting bonds among those who endure together. **In simple terms:** Hardship unites people. Key Takeaway Recognize solidarity in adversity. Themes solidarity poverty family Mood empathetic resolute Type narrative social When to use this quote - crowded housing - community support - political activism Key Concepts social cohesion collective trauma Questions to Reflect On - How does shared struggle shape identity? - What can you do to support those in similar conditions? A Different Perspective May romanticize suffering. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Connected](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/connected/) [Eleven](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eleven/) [Family](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/family/) [Family Spent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/family-spent-987174/) [Forever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forever/) [Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gay/) [Gay Suffered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gay-suffered-4001627/) [Homosexuality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/homosexuality/) [Hungry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hungry/) [Important](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/important/) [My family](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/my-family/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Political](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political/) [Poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poverty/) [Rejection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rejection/) [Rooms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rooms/) [Side by side](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/side-by-side/) [Sides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sides/) [Sleep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sleep/) [Starving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/starving/) [Suffered Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffered-gay-4001626/) [Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years/) ## Related quotes > [Like many Americans, my family and I have spent our entire lives at the epicenter of de-industrialization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-ryan/like-many-americans-my-family-and-i-have-spent-our-entire-lives-at/) [Tim Ryan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-ryan/) > [Family, well-spent time and somehow achieving a degree of freedom and independence in whatever you do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harrison-ford/family-well-spent-time-and-somehow-achieving-a-degree-of-freedom-and/) [Harrison Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harrison-ford/) > [I wish my family could have spent much more time with each other. When we kids grow up, we get busy with our careers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shibani-dandekar/i-wish-my-family-could-have-spent-much-more-time-with-each-other-when/) [Shibani Dandekar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shibani-dandekar/) > [As for poker, I've stayed away from that, even though when I was in Vegas for Ocean's Eleven, I would get accosted by these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-damon/as-for-poker-i-ve-stayed-away-from-that-even-though-when-i-was-in/) [Matt Damon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-damon/) > [Possession is eleven points in the law.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colley-cibber/possession-is-eleven-points-in-the-law/) [Colley Cibber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colley-cibber/) > [I love playing Eleven.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/millie-bobby-brown/i-love-playing-eleven/) [Millie Bobby Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/millie-bobby-brown/) > [Until the Nineteen-Eighties, when Deng Xiaoping designated the area as China's first special economic zone, Shenzhen had been a tiny fishing village. Suddenly, eleven…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-specter/until-the-nineteen-eighties-when-deng-xiaoping-designated-the-area-as/) [Michael Specter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-specter/) > [The ten hottest years in the atmospheric record, going back only 160 years, have been in the last eleven years.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-gore/the-ten-hottest-years-in-the-atmospheric-record-going-back-only-160/) [Al Gore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-gore/) > [The Baron, unfortunately, turns it all the way up to eleven." "Seriously? Because, you know, that's one more evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-landy/the-baron-unfortunately-turns-it-all-the-way-up-to-eleven-seriously/) [Derek Landy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-landy/) > [Still, waking up this early was just wrong. “Why can’t people be reasonable and only die after eleven A.M.?” I whined.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-rowland/still-waking-up-this-early-was-just-wrong-why-can-t-people-be/) [Diana Rowland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-rowland/) > [The man in the coon skin cap in the pig pen wants eleven dollar bills, you've only got ten.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/the-man-in-the-coon-skin-cap-in-the-pig-pen-wants-eleven-dollar-bills/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [I've been in eleven no-hitters you know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bert-campaneris/i-ve-been-in-eleven-no-hitters-you-know/) [Bert Campaneris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bert-campaneris/) > [People kept asking, 'What's your market?' I've got no idea at all other than me, an eleven year old kid in a 56-year-old body.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graeme-base/people-kept-asking-what-s-your-market-i-ve-got-no-idea-at-all-other/) [Graeme Base](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graeme-base/) > [Las Vegas is a resort whose two chief sources of income are seven and eleven.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-esar/las-vegas-is-a-resort-whose-two-chief-sources-of-income-are-seven-and/) [Evan Esar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-esar/) > [As a little boy of eleven I entered the Cadet Corps. I was not particularly eager to become a Cadet, but my father wished…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manfred-von-richthofen/as-a-little-boy-of-eleven-i-entered-the-cadet-corps-i-was-not/) [Manfred von Richthofen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manfred-von-richthofen/) ## More by Abdellah Taia > [Everyone hasn't got the power to free oneself and go away to another place or country... No one is capable of freeing oneself from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abdellah-taia/everyone-hasn-t-got-the-power-to-free-oneself-and-go-away-to-another/) [Abdellah Taia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abdellah-taia/) > [Many Europeans think that all Moroccans speak French, but no. I had to make an effort to learn it when I studied French literature…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abdellah-taia/many-europeans-think-that-all-moroccans-speak-french-but-no-i-had-to/) [Abdellah Taia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abdellah-taia/) > [Any gay person understands at some point that he or she has to disappear, to become invisible. That's very difficult. You somehow have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abdellah-taia/any-gay-person-understands-at-some-point-that-he-or-she-has-to/) [Abdellah Taia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abdellah-taia/) > [Writing and making films aren't different things to me. Or maybe it has become so, now. 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I don't want my books to be seen as an expression of this or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abdellah-taia/i-hate-to-express-political-ideas-directly-in-a-book-i-don-t-want-my/) [Abdellah Taia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abdellah-taia/) > [People think that I only write about homosexuality, but that's not true.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abdellah-taia/people-think-that-i-only-write-about-homosexuality-but-that-s-not-true/) [Abdellah Taia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abdellah-taia/) [Explore all 9 Abdellah Taia quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abdellah-taia/) ## More Connected quotes > [I don't understand why we're all connected wirelessly via a little machine that goes in our pocket, to everybody in the world, and you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-m-chu/i-don-t-understand-why-we-re-all-connected-wirelessly-via-a-little/) [Jon M. 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The first is a virtue; the other,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-edgeworth/there-are-two-sorts-of-content-one-is-connected-with-exertion-the/) [Maria Edgeworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-edgeworth/) > [I admit that these terms and the diagrams connected with them repel some readers, and fill others with the vain imagination that they have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-marshall/i-admit-that-these-terms-and-the-diagrams-connected-with-them-repel/) [Alfred Marshall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-marshall/) > [A tribe, let us say, is warlike. The successes for which it strives, the achievements upon which it sets store, are connected with fighting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/a-tribe-let-us-say-is-warlike-the-successes-for-which-it-strives-the/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [every subjective phenomenon is essentially connected with a single point of view, and it seems inevitable that an objective, physical theory will abandon that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-nagel/every-subjective-phenomenon-is-essentially-connected-with-a-single/) [Thomas Nagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-nagel/) > [Be conscious of one another and everything that we are connected to in this world of ours (not just your relatives and friends).](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noelle-scaggs/be-conscious-of-one-another-and-everything-that-we-are-connected-to/) [Noelle Scaggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noelle-scaggs/) > [The ensouled is distinguished from the unsouled by its being alive. 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