Life is Random?

    Don Delillo wrote a short story called Videotape. The short story points out the precariousness and randomness of life by using a videotape as a metaphor for the idea. Delillo shows in the piece that life and death are random and one's life can be ended at any point in time. The videotape is a metaphor for the idea because the video shows that a man was shot while driving his car. The loose correlation between driving and being shot points out that life is random.

    But how true is that claim? In order to prove his claim, Delillo uses a surreal example, but his example might be seen in other ways. In the video's case, the man being shot in the video could have been assassinated intentionally. He could have done something before in his life that led to his death, which could not have been random. In any case, the probability of man's death being a completely random occurrence would be very low.

    When considering the purpose of Videotape, the author wants to persuade the reader that life is random, but that might not be the case in most circumstances. Almost everything that happens has a reason or cause behind it. From our life's personal decisions to the government's biggest actions, everything has a reason behind it. For example, World War 1 did not just happen randomly; there were years of tensions that led to it. And same is the case with any other historical event. It is even true with people’s lives. Consider yourself reading this blog, for example. Are you reading it because of the randomness of life? Probably not.There would probably be some reason you are reading it right now. And the same is the case with me. I am not writing this blog randomly, but I am writing this because it is my AP Language class assignment. 

    So most events that happen in our life do have a reason behind them. I agree that some occurrences are random including getting a 5 by rolling a die. But most instances in life are not.