Well I want to become a doctor because I like their kind of work, working with people, working with sciences as well as the multiple career choices I can have, specialising in different things
I also find the human body interesting. I prefer medicine over something else say biomedical sciences (such as pharmacology) because of the patient interactions, I'm not the type of person who can work in a lab all day!!! But I agree, doctors generally get a lot of respect in society, it's probably a cumulating of multiple facets including, but not limited to, the fact that doctors do altruistic work, are intelligent, are helpful and are in one of the few professions that value people and health over profits.
But I also agree with what Thushan is saying, even though my parents wouldn't take pride in saying "my son is doing medicine", they do have pride in me being able to achieve that. On top of that, yes, doctors do get a high salary, but in Australia, it's not extravagantly high and the work is tough and there's often long hours, there's much more money in other areas