김흥숙에 관한 칼럼 (2011년 4월 7일)

오늘 아침 코리아타임스를 보고 깜짝 놀랐습니다. 조재현 사회부장이 쓴 칼럼의 제목이 제가 최근 출간한 책의 제목과 너무도 비슷해서였습니다. 그의 칼럼 제목은 'From man to human (맨에서 휴먼으로)'이고

제 책의 제목은 '우먼에서 휴먼으로 (From woman to human)'이니까요. 칼럼을 읽어보고는 더욱 놀랐습니다. 바로 제 책과 저에 대해 쓴 글이었기 때문입니다. 책은 나왔지만 그 사실을 그에게 알린 적도 없고 책을 준 적도 없으니까요. 조 부장의 칼럼 속에 그려진 김흥숙은 제법 괜찮은 사람이라 은근히 불안하지만 그래도 여기에 옮겨둡니다. 후배의 과대평가(?)를 자랑하고 싶어하는 것을 보니 저는 소인배입니다.

 

 

Aging well is not easy. Everybody wants to get old gracefully ― both physically and mentally. But only a selected few seem to be achieving that dream. Look around: Is there anyone who you respect and want to become your guru or mentor? If you have one, you are lucky. But a good old man or woman is hard to find in this materialistic world that forces one to become selfish and greedy. If you cannot find such a person, what about making efforts to become one yourself? It may not be impossible if we try and know how.

I recently came across with a book, titled “From Woman to Human” (Booksea Publishing) by Kim Heung-sook. It’s a collection of essays with a subtitle: The 12 commandments one should follow to be aging well. This book, rich with frank and intriguing episodes, may provide readers with clues to finding elements they need to grow into a decent human being. The author calls the book a letter she wrote to the middle-aged men and women in their 40s and 50s. As the title of the book implies, she advises readers to get rid of their consciousness of male or female gender from themselves to become a “human being” evolving from a “man” or “woman.”

As you might already know, the author is a columnist who has written for this paper’s opinion page for nine years. A former Korea Times reporter, she worked for this newspaper for more than a decade, mostly in the 1980s. In the book, she said she decided to quit this newspaper as she found herself becoming a hard-working but haughty reporter at the cost of losing opportunities to find her true self. Though she became a competent reporter, she must have felt consumed by work at that time. As far as I remember she was a reporter who said “no” to what she believes is not right ― a characteristic that manifests itself in much of her writing.

This book is not a fancy but candid tale of how she liberated herself from the circus of pretending to be anyone other than herself and of what she eventually found. For most of us, buried under our daily work and chores, thinking about such a basic question as “Who am I?” is a luxury. But it’s the foremost question we may have to ask ourselves every day before taking other steps in order to be a truly happy person.

South Korea is rapidly becoming an aging society, with the number of citizens over 65 already topping the 1 million mark in Seoul alone. It means nearly one tenth of the population in the capital is elderly.
However, there is no sufficient social safety net to provide them with a cushion to fall back on. They need to prepare themselves for life after retirement, with not much expected from the government or their children.

Of course, financial preparations are important in this capitalistic society. But what’s more critical and effective can go beyond such mundane things. We need to pay greater attention to the things that really matter to evolve into freer human beings.

What really matters is not the amount of our wealth but the things that we really want to do and that make us happy. Awakening to our inner self and finding what we really want to do is the key to liberating ourselves from all the vain outward marks of success.

The 12 commandments the author suggests one should follow to morph into “human” from “man or woman” may not be entirely new but is definitely worth pondering over. Among them are to discern important things from unimportant ones; not to worry; not to hate others; and don’t be afraid of death.

She says she is comfortable with aging and experiencing the state of enlightened bliss. For those who make efforts to get old and wise, aging does not necessarily mean deteriorating, rather it could be a catalyst for a better life.

She says her life-pursuing goal is to become a “good human being.” By her definition, a good human being is “a free person who loves others.” Achieving this goal of becoming a good human being doesn’t sound that difficult. And it is a good way to age well.