Being born and raised in the United States, I have found that my experiences of “hardship” while no less real, are often skewed in the direction of difficulties with no existential consequences. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, the most immediate existential hardship I bore witness during my childhood was the rise in homelessness, a trend that I sought to help alleviate through volunteering at a local shelter and soup kitchen. Talking with the unhoused people I volunteered with, I learned of the myriad ways they found themselves in such a precarious situation, and how much having stable institutions like shelters to rely on meant for their wellbeing.