*Little Johnny Meets Barack Obama*
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 president if he would like to lead the discussion
on the word ‘tragedy.’ So our illustrious president 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.’