Presidential candidate Barack Obama was visiting a primary school and
he visited one of the classes. They were in the middle of a discussion
related to words and their meanings. The teacher asked the presidential
candidate if he would like to lead the discussion on the word
'tragedy'.
So our illustrious democratic presidential candidate asked the class for
an example of a 'tragedy'.
One little boy stood up and offered: 'If my best friend, who lives
on a farm, is playing in the field and a tractor runs over him and
kills him, that would be a tragedy.''No,' said Obama, 'that would be an accident.'A little girl raised her hand: 'If a school bus carrying 50
children drove over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be
a tragedy.''I'm afraid not,' explained Obama. 'That's what we would call
great loss.'The room went silent. No other children volunteered. Obama
searched the room. 'Isn't there someone here who can give me an
example of a tragedy?'Finally at the back of the room, Little Johnny raised his hand. In
a quiet voice he said: 'If the plane carrying you and Mrs. Obama
was struck by a 'friendly fire' missile and blown to smithereens
that would be a tragedy..''Fantastic!' exclaimed Obama. 'That's right. And can you tell me
why that would be tragedy?''Well,' says the boy, 'It has to be a tragedy, because it certainly
wouldn't be a great loss... and it probably wouldn't be an
accident either.
