My school holds an annual event to raise awareness for homelessness. In this event, students spend roughly 36 hours experiencing conditions that the homeless experience every day. They are provided with only the food that it donated to the makeshift “soup kitchen”. They sleep outside in boxes and are not permitted any luxuries, bar deodorant and a toothbrush. They must attend school the next day in the same clothes that they arrived in and slept in the day before.

I signed up to participate in the project. While doing so, I began to think of the embarrassment that the students feel sue to their appearance the next day. I started to wonder if the homeless were often self-conscious, especially those who have only recently lost everything. Is their appearance in the back of their mind or have their circumstances helped them to overcome modern vanities and focus on living?