--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Mom became even more concerned about my…" description: "\"“Mom became even more concerned about my values when my editor offered me a job writing a weekly column about what he called the behind-the-scenes doin..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/577/jeannette-walls-1378_class-struggle_mom-became-even-more-concerned-about-my_973326.jpg" --- # Mom became even more concerned about my values when my… ![“Mom became even more concerned about my values when my editor offered me a job writing a weekly column about what he called the behind-the-scenes doings of the movers and shakers. Mom thought I should be writing exposes about oppressive landlords, social injustice, and the class struggle on the…” quote by Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/577/jeannette-walls-1378_class-struggle_mom-became-even-more-concerned-about-my_973326.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/577/jeannette-walls-1378_class-struggle_mom-became-even-more-concerned-about-my_973326.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/577/jeannette-walls-1378_class-struggle_mom-became-even-more-concerned-about-my_973326.jpg) > ““Mom became even more concerned about my values when my editor offered me a job writing a weekly column about what he called the behind-the-scenes doings of the movers and shakers. Mom thought I should be writing exposes about oppressive landlords, social injustice, and the class struggle on the Lower East Side. But I leaped at the job, because it meant I would become one of those people who knew what was really going on. Also, most people in Welch had a pretty good idea how bad off the Walls family was, but the truth was, they all had their problems, too--they were just better than we were at covering them up. I wanted to let the world know that no one had a perfect life, that even the people who seemed to have it all had their secrets.”” [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Seeking truth about others' lives can reveal universal imperfections; exposing hidden struggles fosters empathy. **In simple terms:** Expose hidden struggles to see common humanity. Key Takeaway Share stories, reveal truth. Themes truth empathy exposure Mood thoughtful cautious Type memoir inspirational When to use this quote - journalism - family histories - social activism Key Concepts social critique personal narrative Questions to Reflect On - What ethical lines guide exposing others' secrets? - How does revealing flaws affect our judgments? A Different Perspective Risk of sensationalism or violating privacy. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Class struggle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class-struggle/) [Movers and shakers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/movers-and-shakers/) [Perfect life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perfect-life/) [Social injustice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social-injustice/) ## Related quotes > [I liked movers and shakers more than celebrities. I wasn't that interested in celebrities. I grew up without a TV.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/i-liked-movers-and-shakers-more-than-celebrities-i-wasn-t-that/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [People need to find out the facts before they make comments, or pass judgment on others. Everything you are told, even by family, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nishan-panwar/people-need-to-find-out-the-facts-before-they-make-comments-or-pass/) [Nishan Panwar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nishan-panwar/) > [“Ironically, pretending that parenting is easy diminishes the value of family. As truth seekers and truth speakers, we need to be honest about the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-leyland-fields/ironically-pretending-that-parenting-is-easy-diminishes-the-value-of/) Leslie Leyland Fields > [I believe in God, family, truth between people, the power of love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-landon/i-believe-in-god-family-truth-between-people-the-power-of-love/) [Michael Landon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-landon/) > [“I wanted to let the world know that no one had a perfect life, that even people who seemed to have it all had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/i-wanted-to-let-the-world-know-that-no-one-had-a-perfect-life-that/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [“(Talking about the movement to deny the prevalence and effects of adult sexual exploitation of children) So what does this movement consist of? Who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beatrix-campbell/talking-about-the-movement-to-deny-the-prevalence-and-effects-of/) [Beatrix Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beatrix-campbell/) > [The movers and shakers have always been obsessive nuts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-sturgeon/the-movers-and-shakers-have-always-been-obsessive-nuts/) [Theodore Sturgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-sturgeon/) > [Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-tracy/those-people-who-develop-the-ability-to-continuously-acquire-new-and/) [Brian Tracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-tracy/) > [We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams. World-losers and world-forsakers, Upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-o-shaughnessy/we-are-the-music-makers-and-we-are-the-dreamers-of-dreams-wandering/) [Arthur O'Shaughnessy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-o-shaughnessy/) > [I'm so interested in people's journeys and what makes them tick, the movers and shakers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-gonzalez/i-m-so-interested-in-people-s-journeys-and-what-makes-them-tick-the/) [Tony Gonzalez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-gonzalez/) > [The women are the movers and shakers in the community...they initiate things...they keep things going.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-o-shane/the-women-are-the-movers-and-shakers-in-the-community-they-initiate/) [Pat O'Shane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-o-shane/) > [The EU might have become a large federal nation. But they would have had to do things differently. Number one, they would've had to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-c-nussbaum/the-eu-might-have-become-a-large-federal-nation-but-they-would-have/) [Martha C. Nussbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-c-nussbaum/) > [I get letters from two kinds of readers. History buffs, who love to read history and biography for fun, and then kids who want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-freedman/i-get-letters-from-two-kinds-of-readers-history-buffs-who-love-to/) [Russell Freedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-freedman/) > [I certainly think it's important to build relationships with movers and shakers in the fashion industry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ej-johnson/i-certainly-think-it-s-important-to-build-relationships-with-movers/) [EJ Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ej-johnson/) > [We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams... Yet we are the movers and shakers of the world for ever, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-o-shaughnessy/we-are-the-music-makers-and-we-are-the-dreamers-of-dreams-yet-we-are/) [Arthur O'Shaughnessy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-o-shaughnessy/) ## More by Jeannette Walls > [You should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. You have to find the redeeming quality and love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/you-should-never-hate-anyone-even-your-worst-enemies-everyone-has/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [“You should never hate anyone, not even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. You had to find the redeeming quality and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/you-should-never-hate-anyone-not-even-your-worst-enemies-everyone-has/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [With a complicated childhood, you can either focus on the positive or the negative, and I chose to focus on the positive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/with-a-complicated-childhood-you-can-either-focus-on-the-positive-or/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [She never felt sorry for herself, and that was something I decided I admired most in people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/she-never-felt-sorry-for-herself-and-that-was-something-i-decided-i/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [“If you want to live in the farmland, haul your sorry hide off to Pennsylvania.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/if-you-want-to-live-in-the-farmland-haul-your-sorry-hide-off-to/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [“I WAS SITTING IN a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/i-was-sitting-in-a-taxi-wondering-if-i-had-overdressed-for-the/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [I had the big shoulders; I had the big hair. I loved the '80s. It was all about power women.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/i-had-the-big-shoulders-i-had-the-big-hair-i-loved-the-80s-it-was-all/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [Things usually work out in the end." "What if they don't?" "That just means you haven't come to the end yet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/things-usually-work-out-in-the-end-what-if-they-don-t-that-just-means/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [“That was the way man was meant to live, he’d say, in harmony with the wild, like the Indians, not this lords-of-the-earth crap, trying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/that-was-the-way-man-was-meant-to-live-he-d-say-in-harmony-with-the/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [Sometimes you need a little crisis to get your adrenaline flowing and help you realize your potential.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/sometimes-you-need-a-little-crisis-to-get-your-adrenaline-flowing-and/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [“Don’t be afraid of your dark places,” Mom told her. “If you can shine a light on them, you’ll find treasure there.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/don-t-be-afraid-of-your-dark-places-mom-told-her-if-you-can-shine-a/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [I hate Erma," I told Mom... "You have to show compassion for her..." She added that you should never hate anyone, even your worst…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/i-hate-erma-i-told-mom-you-have-to-show-compassion-for-her-she-added/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [“Sad state to spend your life in. Being afraid of your own self." Rex Walls”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/sad-state-to-spend-your-life-in-being-afraid-of-your-own-self-rex/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [I was so worried that people wouldn't like me or my story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/i-was-so-worried-that-people-wouldn-t-like-me-or-my-story/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [“the surest way to feel rich was to invest in quality nonessentials.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/the-surest-way-to-feel-rich-was-to-invest-in-quality-nonessentials/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) [Explore all 247 Jeannette Walls quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) ## More Class struggle quotes > [Starting from the very reasonable, but unfortunately revolutionary concept that social practices which threaten the continuation of life on Earth must be changed, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judi-bari/starting-from-the-very-reasonable-but-unfortunately-revolutionary/) [Judi Bari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judi-bari/) > [The class struggle necessarily leads to the dictatorship of the proletariat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/the-class-struggle-necessarily-leads-to-the-dictatorship-of-the/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [“As a battle cry against feudalism, the demand for democracy had a progressive character. As time went on, however, the metaphysics of natural law…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/as-a-battle-cry-against-feudalism-the-demand-for-democracy-had-a/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [All history has been a history of class struggles between dominated classes at various stages of social development.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-engels/all-history-has-been-a-history-of-class-struggles-between-dominated/) [Friedrich Engels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-engels/) > [The same old caveman feeling-greed, envy, violence, and mutual hate, which along the way assumed respectable pseudonyms like class struggle, racial struggle, mass struggle,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/the-same-old-caveman-feeling-greed-envy-violence-and-mutual-hate/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [“We in the West are accustomed to thinking that humans are all basically the same underneath our different cultural clothing, that the concerns the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-cushman/we-in-the-west-are-accustomed-to-thinking-that-humans-are-all/) [Philip Cushman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-cushman/) > [“The class struggle had a just motive, and Socialism at the beginning was in the right. What has happened is that instead of pursuing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jos-antonio-rivera/the-class-struggle-had-a-just-motive-and-socialism-at-the-beginning/) José Antonio Rivera > [“Totalitarian politics—far from being simply antisemitic or racist or imperialist or communist—use and abuse their own ideological and political elements until the basis of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/totalitarian-politics-far-from-being-simply-antisemitic-or-racist-or/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [The Latin American Left, the criollos, direct descendents of Spaniards, they don't want to accept that they are the whites of Latin America. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bocafloja/the-latin-american-left-the-criollos-direct-descendents-of-spaniards/) [Bocafloja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bocafloja/) > [Wherever capitalism appears, in pursuit of its mission of exploitation, there will Socialism, fertilized by misery, watered by tears, and vitalized by agitation be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-v-debs/wherever-capitalism-appears-in-pursuit-of-its-mission-of-exploitation/) [Eugene V. Debs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-v-debs/) > [The Republican and Democratic parties, or, to be more exact, the Republican-Democratic party, represent the capitalist class in the class struggle. They are the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-v-debs/the-republican-and-democratic-parties-or-to-be-more-exact-the/) [Eugene V. Debs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-v-debs/) > [“Have private property, capitalist exploitation and class rule ceased to exist? Or, have the propertied classes in a spell of patriotic fervour declared: in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rosa-luxemburg/have-private-property-capitalist-exploitation-and-class-rule-ceased/) [Rosa Luxemburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rosa-luxemburg/) > [“Actual class struggles apart, one of the aesthetic ways you could prove that there was a class system in America was by cogitating on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/actual-class-struggles-apart-one-of-the-aesthetic-ways-you-could/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [As the class struggle sharpens in the U.S. Marxism will come into its own as a great popular study.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-l-r-james/as-the-class-struggle-sharpens-in-the-u-s-marxism-will-come-into-its/) [C. L. R. James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-l-r-james/) > [“My own outlook and my values had been formed long ago. I did not believe in dividing people into rigid classes, and I did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nien-cheng/my-own-outlook-and-my-values-had-been-formed-long-ago-i-did-not/) [Nien Cheng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nien-cheng/) [Browse all 153 Class struggle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class-struggle/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Mom became even more concerned about my values when my editor offered me a job writing a weekly column about what he called the behind-the-scenes doings of the movers and shakers. Mom thought I should be writing exposes about oppressive landlords, social injustice, and the class struggle on the Lower East Side. But I leaped at the job, because it meant I would become one of those people who knew what was really going on. 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