Work and Thankfulness

Chapter 6: The Work
As I did with the last chapter on nights, I was able to make connections of myself with Primo Levi as he worked in the concentration camps. When I read about him working, I immediately thought of the work I have done in Habitat for Humanity at Thailand during Lunar break.
It was understandable how Levi tried to do the least amount of work possible without being caught by the SS guards. He tried to carry the lightest cast-iron cylinders, and try to give much of the work to his partner Resnyk, carrying a less amount of weight while holding them. Moreover, Levi would take bathroom excuses and walk as slowly as possible in order to extend the time he can rest his body.
Similarly, at Habitat for Humanity, I took many ways to do less work than I should. When we were at the work site, I sometimes made excuses to rest using the thumb I had injured. When I got a part of my leg burned from touching the exhaust pipe of a motorcycle, I said that I had to ice it, increasing the time that I could stay idle.
Despite these similarities, one large difference largely separates Levi and me: unlike mine, Levi’s work was forced. I had volunteered to work, and I should have been happy with my work. Yet, I wanted to stay away from work, like Levi did while being forced to work. Moreover, Levi was working much harder, to the point where he had infinitesimal amount of strength left to work; “After fifty steps I am at the limit of what a person is theoretically able to support: my knees bend, my shoulder aches as if pressed in a vice, my equilibrium is in danger.” Surely I was in a physical condition much better than Levi's.
From observing these similarities and differences, I learned that people adjust to their situations, and often complain in these situations, hardly being thankful for what they have. Sure, Levi had almost nothing to be thankful. But I was complaining at Thailand, even in a much better situation that Levi in this book. Moreover, when I came back to my house in Korea, I still complained even though my status was much better off than that in Thailand. It is hard to be thankful of what we have.