Gordon Brown was visiting a primary school and he looked in on one of the classes. They were in the middle of a discussion regarding words and their
meanings.
The teacher asked Mr Brown 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'.
A 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 Gordon, '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 a
tragedy.'
'I'm afraid not', explained Gordon, 'that's what we would call a great loss.'
The room went silent. No other children volunteered. Gordon searched the room, 'Isn't there anyone 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 a plane carrying you and Mr Darling was hit by a 'friendly fire' missile and blown to smithereens, that
would be a tragedy..'
'Fantastic!' exclaimed Gordon, 'That's right. And can you tell me why that would be a tragedy?'
'Well,' says little Johnny, 'it has to be a tragedy, because it certainly wouldn't be a great loss and it probably wouldn't
be an accident either!'
genius
Now you're on some Secret Intelligence list. Way to go...