James Laughlin argues you can't control what happens to you, but you can control how you respond. He contrasts people grateful for safety and the chance to learn English with those suffering in detention camps, showing how perspective shapes whether you see yourself as a victim or as someone with opportunity.
You look at your situation, you take stock of it, and you can either look at yourself as a victim of that circumstance again, without downplaying someone's experience, but you can look at it and be like, oh, woe is me. I'm a victim of my circumstance. I can't speak the language. I don't have any friends. I feel lonely. I miss home. Whatever you want to bring up. Or you can say, incredible. We made it. Sure, we made it to a country, and there's a hell of a lot of obstacles ahead. But how lucky are we to be in this situation and not be imprisoned on Nauru? How lucky are we to be able to be given the opportunity to learn English and maybe build a new life and not have that stripped away completely from us in a refugee camp somewhere, or imprisoned in these offshore detention centers? That's the perspective.
