Man's Best Friend

Today I watched two little boys kicking a puppy. That is not at all a strange occurrence. A few days ago I was playing with some stray puppies outside one of my friend's apartment building and a little boy, probably only 4 or 5 years old came out and started kicking them for no reason. Mongolians are strange about dogs. Mostly they are terrified of them. The same day I was playing with those puppies a group of little girls was giving me the "hello!" chorus, and started to come over to me. One of the puppies ran up to them wagging its tail and the little girls ran away screaming. There are lots of street dogs in Mongolia, (somehow the yearly mass-murder of the stray dogs doesn’t quite solve the problem) and if they go within 10 feet of someone the person will throw a rock or yell at them. Watching Sophie run around town is an interesting sight. She is one of the friendliest dogs I know, she is always wagging her tail and running up to people, whose response is inevitably to jump back with a terrified expression and yell. Or pick up a rock and throw it at her.
I admit that sometimes she can be a little startling, there have been a few times I’ve been walking back to my apartment when she is outside and she runs up behind me at top speed. But she really just wants to say “hi.” And she’s not enough of a Mongol dog to know that people are not her friends. It surprises me that Mongolians are so fearful and mean to dogs. Most people who live in hashaas have a dog, and their dog is a pretty important part of their home security. Hashaa dogs keep the drunk men away and won’t allow strangers to wander around your yard. And dogs are used to guard herds. But many Mongolians practically starve their hashaa dogs. I can’t count the times I have walked into a hashaa and seen a skeletal, mangy dog tied up to a short rope looking up at me with sad eyes. In my experience dogs are most loyal when you feed them and are nice to them. There are many Mongolians who understand that and care for their dogs. But there are many more that don’t. And it’s no wonder they are all scared of dogs. They throw rocks at them and kick them every chance they have. Even puppies that belong to someone generally wander around the streets to some degree, and they are at the mercy of every pack of little boys roaming around looking for something to pick on. Every time I see a herd of boys beating up a puppy I want to go and kick them. It seems that torturing small animals is not a sign of sociopathy in Mongolia.

Love Each Other While Living, People

The following is a Mongolian poem written by O.Dashbalbar that my friend Tuul translated into English:


Love each other while living,
You need not be stingy with those things you hold dearest
Don’t hurt hearts with the spears of needless words
Don’t push one down into a dark hole.
Don’t laugh at the one who has fallen down sodden,
He might be your father, who knows!

If you’ve reached first the peak of fame
Open the gate of happiness for others
They should not forget your help!
Say the one nice word to the person
Who misses and needs it,
Days that are sunny outside and cold inside
Will be seen more than once on this earth.

The nice boy who fell in love with you,
Don’t hurt him with your hard words, girl!
Just love him back for loving you,
He might have loved another, prettier.

Our lives are the same
On our throats, words are knotted the same
On our cheeks, tears fall the same
On our ways, we cross the same paths

Without asking, wipe away a girl’s tear,
Raise up and calm a child stumbled,
Today you’re laughing and another is crying
But another day you’ll be sad and the other will be singing.

Because everybody passes through cradle and coffin
Just love each other, nothing else is needed!
In this wide world,
Humans need not be short on love.

Because I imagine happiness as a fire in the human soul
Because the golden sun bestows its rays upon us equally,
For me, being alive is to deliver my love to others
And I understand that happiness is to receive love from others.

Love each other while living, people!
Translated by S. Tuul