Someone like Peter Aerts (2010년 12월 18일)

I don’t like fighting whether physical or verbal. If I have to take sides with one of the two men, bulls, or political parties fighting, my instinct is to cheer the smaller, weaker one because there must be a good reason for the one to battle despite one’s disadvantageous conditions.

Knowing my preference for smaller beings, my friends would be surprised if I tell them that I not only like Peter Aerts but respect him very much. The Dutch professional fighter is big and tall, weighing 108 kilograms and standing 192 centimeters. If my friends ask me why I like him, I would let them see the footage of his latest fight with Semmy Schilt at the K-1 World Grand Prix Final 2010.

In his 17th appearance at the Final in Tokyo on Dec. 11, the 40-year-old Aerts faced the 212-cm, 133-kg Shilt in the semifinals. Aerts was smaller while he was three years senior to the giant fighter who was a four time champion and the first and only fighter in K-1 history to win the championship three times in a row.

Aerts looked almost pathetic in the first round, dwarfed by the huge presence of Schilt whose reign of K-1 since 2005, I believe, has made the kickboxing tournament less appealing. As the clashes became intense, Aerts gained a bloody cut above one of his no-nonsense eyes and his soulful gladiator face was swollen all over. That, however, didn’t mean he was flinching; he surged on instead and finally won a decision.

According to Wikipedia, Aerts coughed up blood in his changing room after the fight. It was natural that he suffered a TKO loss to Alistair Overeem in the first minutes of the following match. Overeem is 10 years younger than Aerts.

Though Aerts failed to earn his fourth champion belt, he proved to be the real hero in the eyes of millions of beholders around the world, including me. It was not simply because he set three world records in K-1 history: he was the oldest man to fight in the K-1 World Grand Prix Final, the man who made the most appearances there, and the first man to beat Schilt in a tournament.

For me, Aerts’s unwavering commitment was as inspiring as ever. From bell to bell, he fought with all his might until he fell, totally exhausted. Though I had cheered for him, I didn’t feel sorry but felt relieved and fulfilled. I had the hunch Aerts was feeling the same.

As I was changing the television channel, I remembered another scene of fight I had seen on the tube lately: The ruling Grand National Party (GNP) was railroading the government’s 2011 budget bill, using its majority power at the National Assembly on Dec. 8. It was the ugliest scene I had seen since the GNP did the same thing exactly one year ago. .

To my dismay, President Lee Myung-bak reportedly called and praised one of the GNP lawmakers who had contributed physically to the railroading. I feel even more frustrated to note that the greatest victim of the unruly passage is the most impoverished people of the nation.

Among others, the bill includes no money to feed poor elementary school students during the winter vacation starting late this month and 200,000 children will be starving unless some corrective measures are taken, according to the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, a leading NGO in Seoul. As PSPD tacitly informs, the most imminent challenge facing the nation is poverty.

The number of households consisting only of grandparents and grandchildren doubled during the past one and a half decades and there are 69,000 such households in the nation. Their average monthly income is a meager 597,000 won (approximately U.S. $515) and the average age of the grandparents is 72.6 years, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has revealed based on a survey of 12,750 such households.

Having 171 seats in the 297-member National Assembly and backed by the richest Cabinet ever, the GNP is hoped to fight against poverty as Peter Aerts fought against Semmy Schilt. Aerts couldn’t get the belt as a result of his unsparing maneuver, yet the GNP’s bout with poverty would bring benefits to its campaign in the presidential and general elections in 2012. I am not a GNP fan, but if the party offers someone like Peter Aerts, I would vote for him or her. At the moment, I am afraid I can’t see any.

 

 

지난 11일 도쿄에서 열린 K-1 그랑프리 파이널 킥복싱 경기 중계를 보았습니다. 피터 아츠라는 네델란드 출신의 파이터가 자신보다 20센티미터나 크고 25킬로그램이니 무거운 챔피언 세미 슐트와 준결승에서 맞붙었습니다. 게다가 아츠는 마흔 살, 이 경기 역사상 제일 나이 많은 참가자입니다. 슐트는 네 번이나 챔피언 벨트를 땄을 뿐만 아니라 K-1 사상 유일하게 세번 연이어 챔피언이 된 거인입니다. 

 

공이 울리고 링 위에 두 사람이 함께 나타났을 땐 아츠를 보기가 민망했습니다. 대학생과 중학생 쯤의 싸움으로 보였으니까요. 하지만 아츠는 '살아있는 K-1의 역사'답게 물러서는 법이 없었습니다. 눈 위가 찢어져 피가 흘러도 앞으로 앞으로만 전진했습니다. 마침내 그가 판정승을 거두었을 땐 저도 모르게 앉았던 자리에서 일어나 그에게 박수를 보냈습니다. 준결승에서 최선을 다한 아츠가 결승이 시작하자마자 열 살이나 어린 알리스타 오브레임에게 TKO패한 것은 당연한 일이었습니다. 그러나 제가 기억하는 건 그의 패배가 아니라 자신보다 훨씬 큰 상대에게서 얻어낸 힘겨운 승리입니다.

 

아츠의 경기를 보고 승리와 패배의 아름다움을 만끽하고 나니 며칠 전 한나라당이 내년 예산안을 통과시키기 위해 국회에서 벌인 추태가 떠올랐습니다. 작년에 똑 같은 이유로 한나라당이 연출했던 추한 장면 이후 가장 추한 장면이라 할 만 했습니다. 그런데 대통령이 몸싸움에 참여했던 김성회 의원에게 전화를 걸어 '수고했다'고 격려까지 했다니 참 부끄럽고 착잡합니다.

 

복지 예산이 대폭 삭감된 예산안이 변칙 통과되는 바람에 20만 명의 초등학생들이 겨울방학 중 급식을 받지 못하게 될 거라고 합니다. 여성가족부가 최근에 내놓은 자료에 따르면, 조부모와 손자녀만이 함께 사는 조손 가정이 지난 15년간 두 배로 늘어 6만 9천 세대나 된다고 합니다. 이 세대의 평균 소득은 겨우 59만 7천 원, 조부모의 평균 연령은 72.6세나 된다고 합니다. 

 

한나라당이 싸워야 할 적은 야당이 아니라 빈곤입니다. 아츠가 슐트를 상대로 싸웠듯 최선을 다해 빈곤과 싸워주기 바랍니다. 2012년엔 대통령 선거와 국회의원 선거가 있습니다. 저는 한나라당 지지자가 아니지만 그 당에서 피터 아츠 같은 사람이 나온다면 그이에게 투표하겠습니다. 하지만 지금은 그런 사람이 하나도 보이지 않으니 유감입니다.