issue136 【today is the day】第三次作业 by revealing

revealingUID: 2507748

TOPIC: ISSUE136 - "The absence of choice is a circumstance that is very, very rare."

Is the absence of choice a rare circumstance? Do we always have enough choices? Obviously, people will find it almost impossible to come to an agreement on the highly controversial issue. In the last analysis, I am more inclined to support the title of the statement.

Admittedly, there is always something that we cannot choose ourselves. For example, we have no choice whether we are male or female; we have no choice who our parents are and which family we were born in; we have no choice the nationality and race when we came in to the world; even some of us unfortunately suffer from congenital diseases, which they have no choice but to accept as fate. Besides, because of the regulations of physical condition, natural environment and social situation and so on, we do not have absolute freedom of will and choice in any circumstances.

Nonetheless, despite all the examples mentioned above, the absence of choice is really a rare circumstance. As the famous saying goes, “God never shuts one door without opening another”. The experience of Beethoven is a case in point. Beethoven, the most distinguished composer, began to lose his hearing in 1801 even became entirely deaf several years later. Most people thought that he had no choice but to give up music, because a musician without ears is just as a bird without wings. However, Beethoven tried variety of methods to help hearing; he even once chose to use a stick, one end of which was attached to the piano while the other end was bit in his mouth so that he could feel the slight variation of sound. In all his life, he wrote out 9 symphonies, 5 piano concertos and other works including the famous No.9 Symphony which is also named Choral. Perhaps we should think about the story of Beethoven before complaining “no choice”. All we need is confidence and persistence to overcome the obstacles and seek the choices hidden behind “no choice”. Where there is a will, there is a way.

In addition, what is also worth noticing is that because of moral standards and ethic values one would rather choose the only one road, although he or she has several other choices. For example, Bruno, Italian philosopher, used Copernican principles in formulating his cosmic theory of an infinite universe, which was condemned by the Inquisition for heresy, immoral conduct, and blasphemy. When he was arrested and was put in jail, he could choose to capitulate; or he could choose to concede the religion; even he could choose to betray his faith. However, according to his perseverance in science as well as his confident belief in the truth, he chose none of these and was burned at the stake in the end. Did Bruno have no choice but to die? Certainly did not. But he preferred to choose death. To some extent, it is not absence of choice, but we do not want to choose.

To sum up, there are several other aspects relevant to the issue under discussion, which, unfortunately, I have no time to explore in details here. It is very likely that people will never be able to come to the same conclusion on the complex issue due to their different experiences and conflicting values. Nevertheless, public awareness of the major concerns addressed above will probably contribute to the thorough understanding of the challenging problem.