Don’t know if this has been on here before.
President Bush 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 the illustrious
leader 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 Bush, “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 the president. “That’s what we
would call Great Loss.”
The room went silent. No other children volunteered. Bush
searched the room. “Isn’t there someone here who can give me
an example of a tragedy?”
Finally at the back of the room a small boy raised his
hand… In a quiet voice he said: “If Air Force One carrying
you and Mrs. Bush was struck by a “friendly fire” missile and
blown to smithereens, that would be a tragedy.”
“Fantastic!” exclaimed Bush. “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