Small Adults and Grown-up Kids

Walking down the street near the State Department Store to work after having lunch, I heard someone singing loudly a famous Mongolian song called “Mother in the Dream.” I looked around saw a poor little boy around five or six years old sitting on the pavement singing the song. People passing by threw some money in the small box in front of him. The box was filled mostly with twenty, fifty and hundred tugriks. I didn’t see any thousands or five hundreds in the box. 

Walking by him, I decided to stay for a while to hear him finish his song. The poor boy didn’t know the whole lyrics of the song. He knew only the general course and made up the verses. Probably he learnt it listening to the music played on the street. A wealthy looking guy passed him and threw 5000 tugriks into the box. The boy thanked the guy several times and took the 5000 tugriks from the box and put it in his pocket. 

I noticed that the small boy’s movement and the behavior were like a grown-up’s. 

Observing the singing boy, I felt pity for him at the same time that I was proud of him. I felt that I hated his parents who made their child earn money. He was too young to earn money and work. He should play with teenagers and should feel his mom and dad’s love. A child should be spoiled by his parents instead of singing in the street to the public. Looking at the boy, I remembered the young children in Ulaanbaatar who sold bags in markets, newspapers, magazines and chewing gums.

Downtown, especially on the streets where many foreigners and wealthy people go by, you will see young children singing or trying to sell you magazines, candies or chewing gums. I don’t know the background of those children and I don’t know who are their parents are, but what kinds of parents force young, innocent, fragile kids to earn money? In an age where one should be spoiled by his parents, in the age of dream and innocence, poor children are instead earning money to feed their families. Statistics show that the majority of parents, whose children are working, are alcoholics. According such reports, those children say that their parents force them to go and find money or that their family background is extremely vulnerable and those children have no choice but to earn a living. 

When I was at their age I only knew about playing, watching cartoons and eating sweets. Even some 20 year olds today don’t know the value of money and how to work and earn money. They just waste their parents’ money on luxurious cars, clubbing and smoking and drinking, but these small creatures strive to survive in this severe world, earning for their family. 

While I was staring at the singing boy, I thought about the people who surround me and compared my life. 

However these children’s lives are both bad and poor and their parents are incapable of working or are alcoholics. These children are not pick-pocketing and they are not stealing anything. They understand that money is earned by working. They don’t just sit in the street and beg money from people; at least they are receiving money for their songs. Those children seem like small adults.

I know people who are 20 to 25 years old, who complain about their lives. They live in expensive apartments downtown and ride luxurious cars. They don’t earn money as their parents provide them with anything they want. They don’t worry what to eat tonight or how to earn money for living. They have everything. But, I hear them complaining all the time about how they live. The only thing they worry about is what to wear tomorrow, what club to visit tonight and who to hang out with. However these people have already reached their twenties and yet they seem like grown-up kids.