Why do we ignore obvious tragedy? (The Plague)

I mean, it's right there in your face. Everything you ever knew as concrete is dissolving. Everything that you held on to to remind you that this life you are living has meaning is disappearing. No one around can explain or even console you. So, why are you still sitting here with a painted smile across your tired face? Could it be that you are in denial? You may not want to accept the fact that everything that you've ever known as real is now only memory. You may not want it to appear to others that you are cracking on the inside. That you are no longer this strong individual whom some used to look up to. Holding on to your pride. You make be trying to hold together the sanity of others. They look to you for comfort and their comfort shattering means a hysterical people. Could it be that you are in shock? You are passed denial. You have accepted that tragedy has come to your front door, but now you are having trouble acting against it. You don't know what to do next and quite frankly you don't want to think about it. You're thinking about everything and everyone you love and how all of that must and will now change. Or could it be that you have hope for the future? You find no point in worrying about what is in front of you because you have hope that it will all pass and everything will go back to normal. This is only a phase, something that you are being put through just to become a stronger individual. But that's the thing. Tragedy is not a phase. Tragedy strikes suddenly and takes almost all   very quickly. You cannot ignore it. You cannot expect things to be the same in the future because they won't. You HAVE to accept it. Because it will shape the rest of your life. Nothing from that point on will feel, taste, smell, sound, or look the same to you. Something will remind you of this tragedy.