--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It was in fact the ordinary nature of…" description: "\"“It was in fact the ordinary nature of everything preceding the event that prevented me from truly believing it had happened, absorbing it, incorporati..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/974/joan-didion-497_blue-sky_it-was-in-fact-the-ordinary-nature-of-ev_2072511.jpg" --- # It was in fact the ordinary nature of everything preceding… ![“It was in fact the ordinary nature of everything preceding the event that prevented me from truly believing it had happened, absorbing it, incorporating it, getting past it. I recognize now that there was nothing unusual in this: confronted with sudden disaster we all focus on how unremarkable the…” quote by Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/974/joan-didion-497_blue-sky_it-was-in-fact-the-ordinary-nature-of-ev_2072511.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/974/joan-didion-497_blue-sky_it-was-in-fact-the-ordinary-nature-of-ev_2072511.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/974/joan-didion-497_blue-sky_it-was-in-fact-the-ordinary-nature-of-ev_2072511.jpg) > ““It was in fact the ordinary nature of everything preceding the event that prevented me from truly believing it had happened, absorbing it, incorporating it, getting past it. I recognize now that there was nothing unusual in this: confronted with sudden disaster we all focus on how unremarkable the circumstances were in which the unthinkable occurred, the clear blue sky from which the plane fell, the routine errand that ended on the shoulder with the car in flames, the swings where the children were playing as usual when the rattlesnake struck from the ivy. "He was on his way home from work — happy, successful, healthy — and then, gone," I read in the account of a psychiatric nurse whose husband was killed in a highway accident. In 1966 I happened to interview many people who had been living in Honolulu on the morning of December 7, 1941; without exception, these people began their accounts of Pearl Harbor by telling me what an "ordinary Sunday morning" it had been. "It was just an ordinary beautiful September day," people still say when asked to describe the morning in New York when American Airlines 11 and United Airlines 175 got flown into the World Trade towers. Even the report of the 9/11 Commission opened on this insistently premonitory and yet still dumbstruck narrative note: "Tuesday, September 11, 2001, dawned temperate and nearly cloudless in the eastern United States.”” [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People often recall disasters as ordinary until the event, making the tragedy seem more shocking and harder to process. **In simple terms:** Disasters feel ordinary until they happen. Key Takeaway Recognize the normalcy before tragedy to better cope. Themes memory perception trauma normalcy coping Mood reflective somber analytical Type observational analytical When to use this quote - disaster response - mental health counseling - historical testimony - media reporting Key Concepts psychology cognitive bias shock response Questions to Reflect On - How does framing a disaster as ordinary affect response? - Can recognizing ordinary moments before tragedy aid healing? 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Said one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-meyers/american-airlines-on-wednesday-canceled-2400-flights-this-week/) [Seth Meyers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-meyers/) > [Hurricane Sandy gives American Airlines a great excuse for running as late as they always do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/hurricane-sandy-gives-american-airlines-a-great-excuse-for-running-as/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [At American Airlines, we have built a business around the love of travel that has lasted three quarters of a century. And I'm pretty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerard-arpey/at-american-airlines-we-have-built-a-business-around-the-love-of/) [Gerard Arpey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerard-arpey/) > [“(Group~ OFFER) Does American offer assistance for group travel planning? 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I recognize now that there was nothing unusual in this: confronted with sudden disaster we all focus on how unremarkable the circumstances were in which the unthinkable occurred, the clear blue sky from which the plane fell, the routine errand that ended on the shoulder with the car in flames, the swings where the children were playing as usual when the rattlesnake struck from the ivy. \"He was on his way home from work — happy, successful, healthy — and then, gone,\" I read in the account of a psychiatric nurse whose husband was killed in a highway accident. In 1966 I happened to interview many people who had been living in Honolulu on the morning of December 7, 1941; without exception, these people began their accounts of Pearl Harbor by telling me what an \"ordinary Sunday morning\" it had been. \"It was just an ordinary beautiful September day,\" people still say when asked to describe the morning in New York when American Airlines 11 and United Airlines 175 got flown into the World Trade towers. 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