Tony Blair Talks to the Children

Tony Blair was visiting a school and was asked by a teacher if he would like to lead the discussion on what constituted a “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 a farm, is playing in the field and a tractor runs him over and kills him, that would be a tragedy.”

“No,” said Blair, “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 PM. “That’s what we would call a great loss.”

The room went silent. No other children volunteered. Blair searched the room. “Isn’t there someone here who can give me an example of tragedy?”

Finally, at the back of the room a small boy raised his hand. In a quiet voice he said: “If an aircraft carrying you, Mr. Blair, was struck by a “friendly fire” missile and blown to smithereens, that would be a tragedy.”

“Fantastic!” exclaimed Blair. “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”