The following piece came to my inbox unsolicited, like so many promotional materials. Whoever is the originator of the piece, I applaud him/her for the subtle sense of humor and the audacity for circulating it. Rather than forwarding it in the manner of many "chain" letters which tends to be unwieldy more often than not, I decided to post it here in an attempt to augment its circulation. Have fun and enjoy the ride. Feel free to leave a comment if you must.
Third Grader Li'l Johnny Meets Barack
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 started by asking 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 and volunteered: "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 a great loss."
The room went silent. No other child 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 a 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."
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