While President Bus..ooops I meant to say Stoltenberg prime minister of Norway was visiting a primary school he visited one of the
classes. They were in the middle of a discussion related to words and their
meanings. The teacher asked the Primeminister 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".
One little boy stood up and offered: "If my best friend, who lives on farm,
is playing in the field and a tractor runs over him and kills him, that
would be a tragedy".
"No," said Stoltenberg, "that would be an accident."
A little girl raised her hand: "If a school bus carrying 50 children drove
over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be a tragedy."
"I'm afraid not," explained the Primeminister. "That's what we would call a
great loss."
The room went silent. No other children volunteered.
Stoltenberg 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 you and King Harald was
struck by a friendly fire missile and blown to smithereens, that would be a
tragedy."
"Fantastic!" exclaimed Stoltenberg. "That's right. And can you tell me why that
would be a tragedy?"
"Well," said the boy, "It has to be a tragedy, because it certainly
wouldn't be a great loss and it probably wouldn't be a [censored]ing accident
either!"