"But in the Lager things are different: here the struggle to survive is without respite, because everyone is desperately and ferociously alone. If some Null Achtzehn vacillates, he will find no one to extend a helping hand; on the contrary, someone will knock him aside, because it is in no one's interest that there will be one more 'musselman' dragging himself to work everyday; and if someone, by a miracle of savage patience and cunning, finds a new method of avoiding the hardest work, a new art which yields him an ounce of bread, he will try to keep his method secret, and he will be esteemed and respected for this, and will derive from it an exclusive, person benefit; he will become stronger and so will be feared, and who is feared is, ipso facto, a candidate for survival."
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To be honest, I have always thought of myself as a helping person. Whenever someone asks me for help, no matter how busy or tired I am, I always try my best to help them out with their problems, whether it be advice, a question on the homework, or just simply asking me what the homework is. Although there are times when people asking me for continuous help frustrates me, I calm myself and try to give aid, always reminding myself that by being a helpful person, maybe one day, if I need help, they will help me out the same way that I helped them out. Then, I tried to picture this in Auschwitz. Maybe there is one person who is always naive, to the extent of being naive. Whenever someone asks this person for help, they will always give it, with a smile. The things asked might include "lending" some possessions, doing the hard labour work that no one wants to do, and going first in the soup line and getting all the liquid part of the soup. Normally, helping people out is regarded as a good thing, and the person who does it, purely out of the goodness of their heart, will be rewarded and blessed. Will the helpful person in Auschwitz be blessed? Will others always be grateful to that person and return the favour? I doubt not. More or less, they will probably rid the person of everything that they can, and when that person is being punished by the SS guards, no one will come to help the person, despite the many things that the person has done for them. In Auschwitz, it is not good to be nice. Nice does not bring anything to a person. Being nice is being stupid. People will take advantage, and when there is nothing to take, they will abandon and never take another glance at the person. On the contrary, it is being sly and cunning that one can achieve the ultimate power in Auschwitz. Enemies need to be made in order to gain greater allies. Then, in the end, is there any point in being nice? Nice doesn't feed you, it doesn't dress you, it doesn't save you... Why be nice when you can get so much more by being the complete opposite?
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