小莊

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!\'