Not A Great Loss

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 Johnny, 'It has to be a tragedy, because it sure as hell wouldn't be a
great loss... and you can bet your ass it's probably not an accident either