"But life in Ka-Be is not this. It is not the crucial moments of the selections, it is not the grotesque episodes of the diarrhoea and lice controls, it is not even the illnesses.
Ka-Be is the Lager without its physical discomforts. So that, whoever still has some seeds of conscience, feels his conscience re-awaken; and in the long empty days, one speaks of other things than hunger and work and one begins to consider what they have made us become, and how much they have taken away from us, what this life is."
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Ever since I was young, I wanted to become a doctor. It seemed like a perfect profession for me. I had always been fascinated by the sciences, and I was always more than welcome to help someone out. Also, it seemed 'cool' to be the person who saves lives of other people. That was my idea of what a doctor was, and to me, that was how a doctor should behave; always smiling and being the person who gives hope to sick people. However, in Auschwitz, my idea of a doctor was apparently starkly different from what the doctors at the Ka-Be were like. As Levi describes, doctors there were just as corrupt as the Jews stealing in order to survive. Once a Jew was admitted into the Ka-Be, all his possessions that he had brought along with him were taken away for the doctors to use. The doctors took these and used it for their benefit. When I was reading this, it made me angry at how the doctors misused their positions. They were supposed to be symbols of hope and love to their patients, yet they were abusing their high rank for their benefit. It made me feel betrayed and ashamed that I wanted to have the same jobs as these people. I continuously reminded myself not to become like them, no matter how much power I gain from my position.
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