In the short story “A Phone Call” by Auburn Sandstrom, an idea developed is that a human’s experiences can shape or alter their perspective. For Auburn, who grew up in wealth, comfort, and privilege, her perspective of life was that of a happy childhood without many problems. She never witnessed the problems many people in the world were faced with. After moving to Ann Arbor Michigan, her perception of life as she knew it was changed. She witnessed the social injustices, poverty, racism, and many more things firsthand that affect America. This completely altered her way of thinking and she felt guilty in a way because people like her don’t do anything to help. She layered her thoughts and finally, “ came to the conclusion that the thing I needed to do with all of my privilege and all the comfort that I’d had all my life was to destroy it. Rip it. Spit on it. Piss on it. Set it on fire” (Sandstrom 1). In this one moment of the story, Auburn’s perspective changes, and she decides to change her whole life because of it. She then does everything she can to unaffiliate herself with her class.
Auburn leads herself down a deep dark hole, filled with depression. This hole seems like there is no light at the end of it. Auburn is at her worst moment, and she thinks that life will never get better when she decides to call the number of a Christian counselor that her mom gave her. She believes that life is not worth living and feels so isolated. Auburn calls the number and realizes that “I had gotten to see that there was this completely random love in the universe. That it could be unconditional. And that some of it was for me” (Sandstrom 3). Auburn experiences kindness which shifts her perspective, and she is changed by this one simple act. Her mind now believes there is a way to get out of the darkness. Throughout the story, Auburn is trying to escape all of her problems, and by doing so more comes to her. Even the darkest moments in life can allow people to feel more alive. Auburn’s story conveyed that problems aren’t meant to hide from, they are life's greatest lessons and should be embraced.