The single biggest problem regarding mathematics and the sciences is motivating younger students to study them.

While the United States excels at welcoming people from all over the world to travel to the U.S. and study science and math, the number of aspiring mathematicians at universities is decreasing. About only 2% of all students in America that pursue a bachelor’s degree are in the fields of mathematics or other physical sciences. On top of that, roughly 48% of students studying a STEM field in a bachelor’s program, and 69% of students pursuing an associate’s degree, changed majors or exited college before earning their degree [1]. One possible explanation for this is the reputation that math has for being boring, uninteresting, and complicated. However, there could hardly be a better time to become a mathematician.

I was watching a documentary about deserts with my 2 year old. At first, she found the documentary to be boring because the desert appeared to be bland and void of life. Then, the screen started showing the lively and colorful aspects of a desert including its oases, various cacti, and small creatures. She was shocked that the arid desert could possess so much color, life, and intrigue. It reminded me of my feelings towards mathematics. For some people, mathematics seems like a dry and dull subject that makes little sense. However, it too becomes full of life and color once one looks in the right places and from the correct perspective.

Ten years ago, the Wall Street Journal ranked jobs based upon a number of parameters such as salary, freedom, the possibility of promotion, and ease of employment. It may surprise you to find out that being a mathematician was ranked as the number one job in the world! [2] Career Cast, a company that started as a spin-off for this kind of ranking in 1988, also ranked mathematician as the number one job in 2014 [3].

In job advertisements, the definition of a mathematician is somebody who applies mathematical theories and formulas to teach or solve problems in a business, educational, or industrial setting. In other words, a mathematician is someone who insists on solving problems, which is what mathematics was invented for. However, a crucial point is missing from this description. There are mathematicians who not only teach or apply mathematics but do math, generate math, and change math.

If a mathematician is one of the best jobs in the world, how many mathematicians are there around the world? Thankfully, it is in the hundreds of thousands: almost 250,000, and it is growing every year, particularly in India and China [4]. These countries encourage their children to participate in STEM fields from a young age and place a very high emphasis upon education that can help foster a love for STEM careers at a young age.

Although mathematics is the science in which theorems last for a long time, it is also a field that is being renewed constantly. There are not many other subjects in which knowledge can last thousands of years and always remain both correct and relevant. For instance, the theorems of Euclid, a Greek mathematician who lived in the third century BC, are still accurate today. If we look at the modern applications of computer science and mathematics we see that people are still applying the contributions of Laplace about the central limit theorem, using the contributions of Shannon in sampling, and applying Fourier’s ideas about signal analysis and signal processing. Paradoxically, mathematics is ancient and contemporary at the same time.

In 2014, Emmanuel Candes of Stanford University gave a short speech about how he had collaborated with medical doctors and mathematicians, and used Fourier’s ideas in analysis and data processing, to drastically reduce the time needed to develop a scan [5]. His machine was a significant evolution for the medical field. In experiments, it was shown that to reconstruct images with the best accuracy, they need to have only 2% of the Fourier transform. Candes managed to reduce this time by a factor of eight by knowing only a very small portion of the Fourier transform. Netflix also uses this technology for reconstructing missing information and predicting the preferences of users for movies.

However, the life of a mathematician is not always full of success. The field is full of uncertainty, intense problem solving that can often take weeks or even months, and waiting. Most of a mathematician’s time as a researcher is spent in failure. That is an objective fact. A common motto is, “Every day is a failure. This is our life.” But when we look back on the amount of time that is spent solving these problems, everything pays off. Every year, the number of new theorems added in mathematics runs into the thousands. Failures are not actually failures, but merely bumps along the path of progress.

Another common problem that befalls mathematicians is that they will be expected to perfectly predict what will happen should their discovery work as intended. This is especially true of work done under the auspices of government agencies, since they will often not grant money without a very clear path towards a desired outcome. Things do not always go as planned, and thus it can be challenging to argue that a desired result will occur 100% of the time.

Despite these drawbacks, one of the most exciting aspects of mathematics is the potential to discover something revolutionary and groundbreaking. History has shown that the ideas and discoveries of one individual can make a tremendous difference in the world. By encouraging and enabling more and more students to study math and science, we thus increase the odds that more discoveries, be they groundbreaking or not, will continue to be made in the future.

Alan Turing was a mathematician who had an outsized impact on human history. He was instrumental in cracking the secret codes that were used by the Nazis during the Second World War. Some have argued that World War II would have lasted at least two more years without Turing’s intervention. In particular, the Normandy operation would have been impossible. What was Turing’s motivation? It was not patriotism, honor, or a strong duty to his country. It was simple: his main motivation was solving riddles and difficult problems. He lived for the thrill of solving his next big challenge.

Paul Erdos, a Hungarian, was the most productive mathematician of the 20th century. Erdos had no home, no car, no bank account, and no salary. He lived with just one suitcase and his ideas. He worked on theorems his entire life. When he got some money from some reward, he would always use part of it to put a reward on another theorem.

Leo Szilard was another revolutionary mathematician. He was the first person to understand the concept of chain reactions between atoms. His inspiration came from a public lecture, in which famed physicist Ernest Rutherford said, “It would be moonshine talking if you are willing to extract energy from the atom.” Rutherford acknowledged that energy existed within atoms but thought it was impossible to do anything with it. Szilard felt that Rutherford was wrong and decided to prove it. He worked and thought for days. And one day, while he was crossing a street in London, he was struck with an idea about the principle of chain reaction and exponential growth of atomic energy. This lead to him eventually meeting with Albert Einstein and the subsequent development of the Manhattan Project.

Steps in developing ideas

But how do scientists find those perfect ideas? What are the steps? Henri Poincare gives us some hints about how the ideas were coming to him. Poincare, who was always considered a genius, experienced many discoveries after working very hard on the problem and he had a lot of failures. He said: “Disgusted from my failure, I went to spend a few days near the sea thinking anything else. And one day, while walking on the cliff, the idea came to me. And as before, it was very brief, sudden, with immediate certainty, that arithmetic transforms of indefinite ternary quadratic forms are identical to those of non-Euclidean geometry.”

So, under which circumstances does a big idea come? In popular culture, we have those myths like Newton saw an apple falling down and changed the world. But in real life, it’s not the way it happens. For Poincare’s example, the cliff has nothing to do with quadratic forms. Poincare was saying that he worked very hard and then he decided to rest a little bit, and finally, he had the enlightening moment. What is important here is if the brain had not been prepared by hard work, the illuminating idea wouldn’t have struck.

So what is the process of discovery?

Of course, a publication will be the last step for the discovery of an idea. Because publication means that the idea is out and going to be seen and read by the world. But before that, we have many steps or ingredients which make our idea stand up on its feet.

1. Fecundation

The first step is fecundation. In other words, conversations and discussions you have with your colleagues. Your interaction has a potential to bring about a new phase, a new idea out of different projects. It may take months or years to decide what you want to prove.

2. Documentation

Documentation is built upon previous research and insights. We may need to document things from several centuries ago or from recent times. Nowadays, all information is stored in computers and the internet, which makes this step easier than before.

3. Motivation

Motivation is the most important ingredient when we pursue a discovery. Psychologists believe that childhood experiences play a big role. For instance, both Szilard and Turing’s lives were strongly influenced by a book they read before they found their ideas. In the case of Turing, the book Natural Wonders Every Child Should Know was his inspiration. When I was a child, I watched “Donald in Mathmagic Land” and thought it was fascinating. It might have played a big role in my choice to become a mathematician.

4. Ecosystem

A discovery or an idea never arrives on its own. A scientist is never alone and there is a whole ecosystem around them. For instance, at one point in history, Persepolis was the most innovative city in the world. Then it was Paris, and then Budapest. Today, we have the well-known Silicon Valley.

If you are working in a lab, you need to have an atmosphere where people can meet, discuss, and be creative. A good idea comes from teamwork.

5. Constraints

The next ingredient that you need for a good idea is constraints. Without constraints, discovering new ideas is not as likely as when there are. Rigorous findings come about mostly with constraints. One of the most famous problems in mathematics is the Riemann hypothesis, which was tested in thousands of experiments. After those experiments, the proof was only a set of logical rules with constraints. Constraints usually help generate authentic results and artistic quality as in rhyming poems.

6. Intuition

Intuition usually comes together with hard work, yet it is not easy to understand its process.

In addition to these six ingredients, whether one has good fortune or not also plays an important role. It is human condition that things may not come out as we like although we might have done everything necessary.

Henri Poincare says, “Thought is only a flash between two long nights, but this flash is everything.” Yet, a big idea might take years of work. Still, even after working so hard, our knowledge is like a tiny island in an ocean of unknown. We know almost nothing, but this is such a precious nothing, because that that knowledge came out of the richness of the thought of many people and their efforts. There are still so many ideas just waiting for us to discover them.

Mathematics, like many scientific fields, is an infinite universe with an infinite amount of problems waiting to be discovered and solved. Their applications within our world are endless, and the possibilities to use these results to create real change in our world are also endless. One tends to ask, is math a stand-alone, abstract concept while its vast horizons of knowledge explains the intricacies of our universe, or does it imply an infinitely bigger wisdom from which this abstract knowledge rises from and that relates to our existence? We must continue to motivate students to study math so that they may fall in love with it and continue to develop humanity.

References

1. United States, Congress, Chen, Xianglei, and Matthew Soldner. “STEM Attrition: College Students’ Paths Into and Out of STEM Fields.” STEM Attrition: College Students’ Paths Into and Out of STEM Fields, National Center for Education Statistics, Nov. 2013. nces.ed.gov/pubs2014/2014001rev.pdf.
2. Needleman, Sarah E. “Doing the Math to Find the Good Jobs.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 7 Jan. 2009, www.wsj.com/articles/SB123119236117055127.
3. “Jobs Rated 2014: Ranking 200 Jobs from Best To Worst.” CareerCast.com, CareerCast.com, 9 Mar. 2017, www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/jobs-rated-2014-ranking-200-jobs-best-worst.
4. “Mathematics Genealogy Project.” Welcome! – The Mathematics Genealogy Project, genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/
5. Emmanuel J. Candes. “Mathematics of sparsity (and a few other things), August 14, 2014, Seoul. ICM2014 VideoSeries PL3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-b4aDGsbJk

With half the world living on less than $2.50 per day and with 46.2 million people in the United States living below the poverty line, poverty is a growing concern.

The United States is known all over the world to be a very powerful and rich country. It is not just American people who believe in the American Dream, but also many people from other countries have been dreaming of coming to the US to live in better conditions. Although the US is thought to be a rich country, we still see hungry and homeless people, especially women and children in the streets. Women, who are either married or unmarried, whether supported by their husbands or single mothers with no support, struggle to earn money for food, clothes, safe shelter, and other intangible needs such as love and happiness. When observed closely, it is easy to understand the reasons why this is so. It is because of the wage gap between men and women, the decreased amount of opportunities in having high income jobs, and the fact that more women are the head of their household compared to men, means that the ratio of poor women is rising, and the increased need for governmental help makes “welfare” necessary.

Understanding the definition of poverty becomes very important because it categorizes people into groups which are poor and wealthy. Richard Ropers states that poverty can be understood and described in numerous ways, and that people will not understand the meaning of poverty if they do not recognize the situation of the poor. To be poor means to not have any sustenance, shelter, or any support from family. However nowadays, living alone, or being pushed out of society, being under depression of unchanging destitution also describes poverty. Being fired from a job, losing self-esteem, having no power, or being away from cultural values are also other parameters to describe poverty (Ropers, 25). Ropers also describes “widespread poverty” as a disloyalty to the democratic values’ failure to gain optimism. Successful leaders must aim to provide economical comfort for their citizens. If the majority of the people are not happy because of poverty, it means the government is not as strong to deal with the problems.

The official poverty line is inadmissible as an accurate system to determine the number of poor people. “The US government identifies the poverty line by multiplying the cost of a minimally nutritious diet by three,” then the number of people who live in the same house is calculated (Popers 35). According to the Census data for 2011, 46.2 million people in the United States lived below the poverty line. According to Peter Edelman, a law professor in Georgetown University, even though there are so many hard working people, they are still living in poverty or just barely above the poverty line (Bilitteri, 723). These people are not given the necessary governmental support. There is also a huge gap between the poor and the wealthy people in the US (Cooper, 337). The highest income is $102,000 for households, just 1% of the population, and the lowest earning is $250 for people, who make up 90% of the population, explains Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez (Bilitteri, 723).

One given image portrayed in the media is that “the poor have only themselves to blame” (Mantsios, 638). The problem of poverty is not just one individual’s problem. There is a strong connection between the poor and society. How can a defenseless child be responsible for being poor, not having shelter, and for not earning any money? How can a single or divorced mother with a little baby, without any family help, be expected to work full time without feeding the little one for hours. The term “poor are eyesores” (Mantsios, 637) is not a responsible and thoughtful depiction, rather, it is a way of not being able to see the problems of the people outside and breaking away from the realities of the poor.

More and more women, especially single mothers, are experiencing poverty at a higher rate than the rest of society. Ropers notes that 58% of women are facing poverty, and in this category 48% of the women are the head of their household. According to Albelda and Tilly, 50% of single women are below the poverty line with no support of a husband. In 1993, while 16% of families struggled against poverty, simultaneously, 52% of single mothers, bereft of husband or family support, experiences real difficulty to provide for their basic needs. Most women work at least two jobs at the same time. On the one hand they work at home without earning any money, and on the other hand work outside to earn money (Albelle & Tilly 307). In 1947, about 38% of women were working mostly in paid labor jobs; however, in 1954, the number of working women who were African American, doubled to 54%. Then in 1996 the ratio of working women rose up to 88%, as reported by Albella and Tilly. Even though the number of hard working women is increasing year by year, they are still, except for a small percentage, earning low income and their situation still remains below the poverty line. According to Albelda and Tilly, “women’s earnings are considerably lower than men’s, approximately 70 cents to the man’s dollar.” This difference makes women’s lives miserable as they try to work outside and head the household all at the same time.

For so many years, women have been endeavoring to have the same rights, opportunities, and benefits as men have in their working lives. Although women’s working situations are not as bad as some years ago, women still face graceless and unpleasant discrimination when they look for jobs. Even though women are more educated nowadays and have more opportunities to get a job, there are distinctive wage gaps between men and women. Being the head of the family (Bernstein, 370), giving birth to a child, being under differentiation of occupation, and being sexually abused by employers are some of the common reasons as to why women are behind men when it comes to the benefits of the jobs (Wage Project, 373).

Family responsibilities are one of the most common reasons why women work in a part time job instead of having a full time job (Bernstein, 371). There are so many married or single women who do most of the household responsibilities while trying to work in a job. It is hard to deal with the chores and manage the expectations at work at the same time. For this reason, women in these kinds of situations prefer to work in part time jobs. According to Bernstein, only 25% of women are able to work full day, for the rest of the women cannot dedicate their whole day for work. This being the case, women cannot get the equal remuneration like other women who work in full time jobs. Interestingly, there is also a huge payment gap between women who work full time and men who work full time. Bernstein explains that “on average women work a lot less than men: 1,498 hours a year, vs. 2,219 worked by the typical man.” According to The Wage Project, part time women employees make only 38% of men’s full time yearly salary. Bernstein also mentions the Hartmann and Rose’s data which shows that women employees can have the same benefits if they leave all the family responsibilities behind and come to work behaving like a “traditional man.” The continuation of such unfair treatment is sure to wear down woman, a situation that’s already strained them enough.

Another reason for the wage gap between men and women is the choice a women makes to have a child (Wage Project, 378). Bernstein says after quoting Bergland that after delivering a child, women have to work part time or stay away from work for a while because they do not receive the necessary help from the society.

Nowadays, the position of women employees is assumed to not be as powerful as men’s by most bosses (Wage Project, 377). Even if men and women have the same educational level (Bernstein, 372) and women show more talent, the suggestions made by women are mostly not considered important until, of course, there is no other choice but to accept (Wage project, 375). Bernstein states that women’s yearly salary is much less than men’s, even when they are at the same educational level.

Sexual harassment is another important factor for women to leave their jobs (Wage Project, 377). Sometimes in situations like these, women are unfortunately seen as sexual means by their bosses. If the women, even if they are educated, do not accept the advances of their bosses, they have no choice but to leave or drop out of their jobs, benefits, emotional solidity, and sometimes even their lives (Wage Project, 377). Women encounter such discriminatory situations at the same time while they are dealing with difficulties which they have in their personal lives.

Some people think that people are getting welfare because they are too lazy and they don’t want to work. This theory can be true for just a few people. Making this kind of generalization for all people who are in poverty is derogatory against them. Albelda and Tilly say that the reasons for the poverty experience by single mothers and their families is not because of their laziness or lack of ambition. They are in poverty because they don’t have parent support, they face job discrimination, they earn less than men, and they have the added responsibility of taking care of their children. Blaming the poor is so easy, but being aware of their situation and helping them out of it would be the best thing for all.

Making reforms on the welfare program will make it work well. Some malicious people display themselves as poor to get support from welfare. Under the welfare program, the situation of the applicant must be clarified through an attentive investigation. Determining the really needy persons, eliminating their needs, and opening free high qualified career courses will make welfare a more beneficial program for the poor and will reduce the complaints made against the program.

Being in poverty is mostly not a personal choice. People in poverty don’t just lack food or safe shelter, but they have also lost their hope and happiness. Women, especially single mothers with no support, encounter the most difficult situations of all. Having an income less than men, taking care of their children without any support, facing job discrimination, and heading the family are the most common adversities faced by women today. Receiving no government support will not help reduce their problems; on the contrary, having access to effective government support will let people in poverty know that there are people with helping hands, people who care about them and who think about them. Poor people need helping hands, at least to not let them give up their hopes and dreams.

References

• Albelda, Randy.,& Tilly, Chris. 2001. “‘Women, Income, and Poverty’: There’s a Family connection.” Race, Class, and Gender in The United States. Ed. Paula S. Rothenberg. New Jersey: Worth,. 305-314.
• Billitteri, Thomas J. “Gender Pay Gap.” CQ Researcher 18.11 (2008): 241-264. CQ Researcher Online. CQ Press. Elisabeth Sturn Library, Reno, NV. “Domestic Poverty.” CQ Researcher 17.31 (2007): 721-744. CQ Researcher Online. CQ Press. Elisabeth Sturn Library, Reno, NV. Cooper, Mary H. “The Working Poor.” CQ Researcher 5.41 (1995): 969-992. CQ Researcher Online. CQ Press. Elisabeth Sturn Library, Reno, NV. 5 Nov. 2008 “Income Inequality.” CQ Researcher 8.15 (1998): 337-360. CQ Researcher Online. CQ Press. Elisabeth Sturn Library, Reno, NV. 5 Nov. 2008
• Glazer, Sarah. “Welfare Reform.” CQ Researcher 11.27 (2001):601-632. CQ Researcher Online. CQ Press. Elisabeth Sturn Library, Reno, NV. 5 Nov. 2008 Berstein, Aoron. 2007. “‘Women’s Pay: Why the Gap Remains A Chasm.” Race, Class, And Gender in The United States. Ed. Paula S. Rothenberg. NJ: Worth. 370-372. Mantsios, Gregory. 2007. “‘Media Magic: Making Class Invisible.’” Race, Class, And Gender in The United States. Paula S.Rothenberg. New Jersey: Worth. 636-643. Ropers, H. Richard. 1991. Persistent Poverty, New York: Plenum. Rothenberg, Paula S. (Ed.). 2007. The Wage Gap And Its Costs. Race, Class, And Gender in The United States. NJ: Worth. 373-378.

I started early, as I was offered wine with family dinners, and I watched my parents consume three to five drinks of alcohol every week day-more on weekends. A large bottle of alcohol lasted two or three days in my home-less if friends dropped by. In fact, the Canadian national average age for trying alcohol is 12 years of age, and about 73% of Canadians over age 12 drink alcohol. Only 3-4% are visibly dependent; the rest are “normal” people-going to jobs and coming home to their families. However, they just can’t function for any length of time without alcohol. They “miss” a drink if they don’t have it-and they make every effort to plan weekly routines around it. They talk about brands, plan visits to bars, clubs, and parties, and may even make their own. They don’t feel “right” until they’ve had a drink-and if they can’t get any, they become depressed or aggressive. Over the months and years, they tend to use it like prayer to meditate on the best and worse moments of their lives.

My family was very typical of Canadian families. On average, Canadians consume 7.6 liters of alcohol per person per year. The industry itself reports sales in 2001 of over 14.5 billion cases (12 X 750 ml bottles). Every single one-every one-of my relations drinks alcohol, and I sadly have several close relatives who have crashed cars, lost their jobs or families, or embarrassed themselves in public-all under the influence of alcohol. Did you know that in a typical year in Canada, more than 6,500 people die in alcohol-related accidents, and more than 81,000 people are hospitalized? Among all injured drivers in Canada, over 77% have alcohol in their bloodstream.

What is the big attraction anyhow? Alcohol doesn’t taste as good as people say it does. It’s often too spicy, sweet, dry, or bitter-depending on what kind of alcohol-and it can burn your throat when it goes down. Most people actually “mix” it with soft drinks or juice to hide the taste. It makes you gain weight through useless calories and lethargy. Drink a lot and you will vomit, sometimes for two or three days. Drink even more, and you may go blind or die. And once you start, it’s hard to stop. People who drink know all of these things, but still they drink. My Muslim friends often ask me, “Why do people drink if they know that there are all these dangers and problems with it?” This question bothered me enough in the past to make me stop drinking for years at a time. My family’s response was no big surprise-they accused me then, like now, of “not being very much fun.” This concept of “fun,” in fact, is at the very heart of the issue.

First, “fun” is what you do to “let go” of “the stresses of the week.” For drinkers of any caliber, life is divided into work days and non-work days. On work days, drinking must be limited-drink too much and your breath and skin smell tart in the morning, detectable to any other drinker, such as an employer. But on weekends, drinking is unlimited. This leads to the birth of a national phenomenon-the race to weekends. People will talk about the coming weekend beginning on Wednesdays. Then, on Mondays and Tuesdays, they talk about the previous weekend. And so, the life of the average Canadian quickly becomes a monotony of alternating days, five plus two, five plus two. The only concept of “future” and “hope” is the hope for what will happen during future weekends. The main bond between members becomes the alcohol itself, as discussions of which beer is better, which bar is better, and which party was the best fill lives quickly and easily and the weeks pass by. Horrible jobs with little meaning are tolerated because “it’s almost Friday,” and it isn’t important anymore to think about how time in this life should really be spent. Any occasion is cause for an alcohol-driven celebration, and many capable people who have the potential to really benefit this world are “dulled” into submission by the monotony of this pointless social and economic cycle.

Second, fun is what happens when you “don’t take life too seriously.” I personally can’t count the number of times I have been told to just “relax.” It seems that not taking life seriously is a fervent goal of the majority of people. They believe that life is meant for pleasure; some will actually tell you that “God gave them the gift of this life strictly for their enjoyment.” In fact, if you begin to think too deeply about the meaning of life, you quickly become a social outcast in this culture. Dare to suggest that someone should slow down their drinking and you will find yourself socially adrift. You may think that’s alright-after all, who needs friends who drink alcohol all the time? However, the reality is that you will have almost an impossible time finding friends who don’t drink alcohol in this culture. Only 12% of all Canadians over age 12 report that they abstain from alcohol, and many of these are from among the younger and older generations. As an adult, you will have to content yourself with being alone, and without a strong faith it is almost impossible to bear the loneliness. Sadly, eventually, one submits to the culture instead of God.

Third, “fun” means acting without due care of the consequences. Every week, all over this country, people apologize to loved ones for inexcusable behaviors they committed when they were drunk-fornication, domestic violence, gambling and financial recklessness, dangerous driving, immoral business practices-and so on. It’s a “perfect excuse” because other drinkers understand, so you are likely to be forgiven. Ultimately, acting carefully becomes quite unimportant. More than 60% of Canadians report problems from their own or someone else’s drinking, and alcohol abuse costs Canada over 2.7% of its gross domestic product annually. That’s over 18.5 billion dollars a year-money that certainly could be better spent. Beyond the inexcusable acts committed under the influence of alcohol, there are the unforgettable ones-telling loved ones hurtful things, divulging long-held family secrets, becoming sexually explicit, acting in embarrassing way with employers, and so on. The reason is that alcohol brings a sense of slowness and confusion-a lot like what you feel just as you wake up in the morning and are still half dreaming. Typically, problem behaviors happen often over a lifetime until life feels “out of control” so that it becomes easier to continue drinking to “numb” the spiritual pain. And so, many give up the power of their will, given to them by God, and begin to believe in what is sometimes called “the Gospel of now”; having no faith in the hereafter and little faith in their ability to control and change their lives for the better, they live only for today.

As believers, we hold the biggest truth of all-belief in the afterlife. Without it, time, pleasure, and reward are measured completely differently. If time is defined only by what is on the calendar this week, why should I care about my spiritual condition at the time of my death? If community is counted only as whoever will accept me in this life, why do I need to care if my life is acceptable to my Maker? If now is all that matters, what is the point of improving myself? Clearly, alcohol creates a powerful distortion-subtle yet persistent throughout the user’s life-that the meaning of life is negotiated here and now on this earth alone. Alcohol users suffer what researchers call “reward deficiency syndrome” –they want instant gratification at all times. So how can they be expected to believe in-or even understand-the afterlife? Thus, alcohol robs users of the belief which is the key to understanding the purpose of our lives. And in shielding believers from alcohol, God protects our faith.

Many times I have walked away from a party by myself on a cold night, disgusted with people’s behavior there, feeling pity for them, staring up at the night sky, feeling completely alone. Thanks to God for the angels that kept me safe through a difficult, dangerous life. Truthfully, I wish I had known then that somewhere throughout the world, in thousands of vibrant communities, over a billion people abstained from alcohol deliberately. Muslims have a duty to tell everyone that they don’t drink because of their faith. Someone, somewhere, some day will hear the message as the voice of his own soul, and perhaps change for the better. We all come from God at the start. God willing, we will all be with Him in the end.

Global traffickers in humans bring people from underdeveloped or developing countries, enticing them with the promise of work or a better life, to developed countries, where there is an immense demand for labor. These people are forced to work painstakingly long shifts at unskilled and demeaning jobs; for example, men are forced to do dangerous tasks that require physical strength, often working without any safety precautions. Minors are forced to work in less labor-intensive jobs, but again for extremely long hours without any proper training. Women are forced to work in socially degrading and debasing jobs, which in some areas are no different from slavery, and the worst, they are used in prostitution.

Nowadays there is a global sector abusing minors and women for these vicious purposes. On the other hand, the acquisition of the global dimensions of TH can be seen to be an outcome of poverty and the misery that results from the poor socio-economical situation of third world countries. Most international trafficking in humans is from poor countries to developed countries. It has also been witnessed that this problem is aggravated by the peculiar traits of prosperous societies.

What is Trafficking in Humans?

In most countries where TH is committed, there are no conceptual or legal precautions taken to protect against such abuses. Within the classical conception, TH is usually defined as the abuse of people in actual physical slavery. Yet today, since the problem has become so widespread as to be global, and as TH is committed for the sake of contemptible purposes, this narrow-scoped definition is no longer sufficient. Thus, the United Nations felt the need to define TH in a broader context.(1)

The ultimate goal of TH is to force people to work in oppressive and exploitative situations in a way that will benefit the organized human traffickers. These conditions include the coercion of men to work in the most menial and labor-intensive jobs, women and girls to partake in debasing activities, servanthood, counterfeit marriages and adoptions, even prostitution, with secret contracts that are in no way legal, forcing them to work under harsh conditions.(2)

The Factors that Nourish TH

For the most part, human traffickers utilize new technological tools of transportation, communication, and media to accomplish their goals. The Internet is a commonly used tool. Some matchmaking companies in developed countries work outside of legal boundaries. Not only do they put ads in the national newspapers, they also put the c.v. and photographs of women and girls who are willing to marry rich men onto the Internet.(3)

This evil marketing approach illegally prospers under the guise of matchmaking and is generally ignored by the countries from where it originates. This, in part, stems from the mutual benefit of the involved parties (for example, bribing officials while transporting people across borders.)(4)

TH is also related to what is called “pleasure tourism.” Third world countries that depend heavily on tourism revenue tend to neglect the conditions that contribute to such problems. For example, Kenya has overlooked TH in order to support tourism. In order to please the increasing number of tourists, women are even brought from neighboring countries, like Uganda.(5)

Undoubtedly, the International Development Banks as well as multinational financial institutions are also responsible for TH by supporting the countries involved and ignoring the socio-ethic consequences. Among developed countries, according to Focus, the Germany is the country most involved in tourism for base purposes. Between 200,000 and 400,000 Germans travel to Far Eastern countries, mostly Thailand and the Philippines, for this purpose each year. In Thailand, among the 1.5 million women employed in such demeaning jobs as prostitution, 800,000 of them are minors. In the Philippines, the minors involved number between 30 and 60,000. In such countries, diseases like AIDS are widespread. For instance 80% of women working in such forms of employment in Thailand are infected with HIV. According to data from the World Health Organization, there will be over 40 million AIDS patients in a couple of years.(6) Lately, there have been reports that after the Tsunami in the Far East, TH has increased in the victimized regions where children now have even less protection.

The multinational organized crime groups who commit TH usually employ two methods. One is to bring women and minors who are already in an abusive situation to developed countries. The other is to promise good wages, work conditions, and prospects to desperately poor people and then to force them to undertake unthinkable actions. For example, as the demand in the evil practice of TH for prostitution increasingly turns to younger and younger girls, due to concerns about AIDS, the second form of TH is frequently committed. As a result, there is an increasing demand for foreign women and girls in developed societies, where marriage has become something to be put off, or perhaps altogether avoided.(7) According to UN data, one million minors are traded in the global TH market.(8)

Although TH is one of the most heinous crimes and something that requires serious punishment, the victims of TH face many discouraging impediments if they try to seek their rights. Most of the time, suspects manage to get away with a very light punishment, if any, as the victims cannot prove their case. Thus, although the judicial system protects women in theory, in practice TH is easier to commit than most people think and remains unpunished. It would be useful to give the example of a trial that lasted eleven months here. At the end of the trial, which was brought to court by Thai women who were promised work in pubs as waitresses in Germany, the criminals were found guilty of “encouraging prostitution” rather than TH; the former carries a much lighter punishment. In the hearings, the women said that they were forced to marry German nationals in Denmark so that they could enter Germany legally and attain a work permit. But later, they were forced to engage in prostitution “to pay for the expenses.”(9) The abuse of women sometimes can be hidden behind a legal disguise. For example, in Berlin a female computer programmer had been laid off from work, and was on unemployment benefit. When a brothel owner saw her c.v. on a database of job seekers and offered her a position, she refused on moral grounds. The government then threatened to cut her unemployment benefits, as she had refused a job. Surprisingly, brothels were legalized two years ago in Germany, and now are considered to be just “another workplace.”(10)

Final Remarks

The people who are forced to work underground or in demeaning jobs know neither the language nor the laws of the country to which they have been brought with fake documents. As the dependents or guardians of these people are paid in advance, it is even more difficult for these people to return to their families as long as their financial dependence continues. On the other hand, if they notify the authorities, they will face deportation and be arrested, as they are not legally residing in that country.

TH can be said to be modern slavery from the perspective of the methods used, the purposes it serves, and the exertion of physical and psychological oppression on the victims. Hence, it is necessary to protect people who are victims of TH wherever they live through the law, and to severely punish the human traffickers. 

References

1. The declaration of UN-General Secretary about “Trafficking in Women and Girls,” number A/50/369. date:08/24/1995.
2. The decision of UN-General Committee, number: 49/166, date:12/23/1994.
3. Bundesministerium fur Familie, Senioren, Frauen, und Jugend (BMFJ) (Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women, and Youth). Materialen zur Frauenpolitik (Materials of Women Politics). Nr.63. Bonn 1997. p.20.
4. Marjan, Wiyers and Lin Lap, Chew; Trafficking in Women; Forced Labor and Slavery-Like Practices in Marriage, Domestic Labor and Prostitution, Utrecht. 1996, p45.
5. BMFJ, same issue.
6. Focus, Nr. 2; 1995. pp 111-114.
7. Licia, Brussa. Survey of Prostitution, Migration and Traffic in Women: History and Current Situation; EU, EG/Prost (91) 2; p.42.
8. Der Spiegel. Nr. 35, 1996, p.31.
9. Elvira, Niesner et al. A woman’s Dignity is Inviolable: A Trial on Trafficking in Women, Forschungsprojekt im Auftrag des BMFJ (Research Project on behalf of BMFJ); Frankfurter Institut fur Frauendforschung (Frankfurt Institute for Women Research). Frankfurt; 1991.
10. The world at a glance…The Week, volume 5, issue 196, February 25, 2005.