LITTLE JOHNNIE
Kevin Rudd 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 Kevin if he would like to lead discussion on the word
\'tragedy\'.
So Kevin (the saviour of \'working families\' ) 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 & a tractor runs over him and kills him,
that would be a \'tragedy.\'
No, said Kevin - 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 Kevin - that\'s what we would call great loss\'
The room went silent. No other children volunteered. Kevin 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 A plane carrying you and Julia Gillard was
struck by a \'friendly fire\' missile & blown to smithereens, that would
be a tragedy.\'
\'Fantastic!\' exclaimed Kevin. \'That\'s right. And can you tell me why
that would be 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 a ing accident
either!\'