President Bush was visiting a primary
school and went to 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”. One little boy stood up and offered.“If my best friend, who lives on a farm, is playing in the field and a tractor ran 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 fifty
children drove over a cliff killing everyone inside, that would be tragedy”.
“I’m afraid not”,
explained the President. “That’s what we would call a 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 Mr 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 a 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
