While some people attend clubs in free time based on their hobbies, others might
join a country club, where they could spend all their leisure time and have a wide range
of choices. Country clubs serve as a one-stop shop, providing members with varied
fitness facilities, professional sports coaches, and appealing restaurants, in which club
members could either learn a sport or have dinner with friends. It seems like people at
country clubs have complete freedom to do anything: they could choose whichever sports
they to play, make friends to whomever they would like to talk to, and have a cup of
drink whenever they want. While enjoying abundant options, club members are restricted
and controlled by the club at the same time. Since each member needs to the pay an
annual fee ranging between $1200 and $5000, people actually diminish their range of
options. When they want to go out and relax, the first place that comes up into their mind
will be the club they pay for, not going hiking or picnic. After joining in a club, people
would limit themselves in a certain zone and experience less. While hoping to get more
freedom, people give up a wide range of possibilities and are controlled by their own
choices as well.
Besides joining clubs, people are frequently controlled by their freedom of
options as well. Imagine this situation: if there is only one restaurant nearby, and you
only have an hour for noon break, you will definitely go there for dining. But what if
there are over 100 adjacent restaurants? You will look up the environment, the taste, and
the average cost of those restaurants to make the “best” choice for your lunch. Usually, it
takes you over ten minutes to actually decide which restaurant to go for today’s lunch.
Similar situations occur almost every day. During lunchtime, it is pretty common to see
people scrolling their phone screens on food delivery apps and struggling with which
food to choose. While selecting courses, students will probably find the time schedule
difficult to satisfy their unlimited curiosity and passion for courses in varies fields and
finally suffer from giving up some of them. When writing an essay, it is difficult to begin
the writing because people don’t know when and where to start…
So, what exactly is freedom? Do more available choices and alternative options really
render people to have more freedom and less control? The answers for those two ques-
tions might vary from person to person. Be sure, however, no one has absolute freedom
or being completely controlled — they always have freedom and control at the same
time.