History wrote another deadly chapter on Thursday with the apparent terrorist attack on a U.S. Navy ship and the brutal beating of two Israeli soldiers at the hands of a Palestinian mob.

As we watch the news unfold on television from the comfort of our homes or offices, we must realize that we are not removed from this history.

We are separated by thousands of miles, yes, but those miles are only physical distance. The expanding global economy and our shared humanity erase those miles and bring both the pain and the fear into our hearts.

For weeks now, we’ve watched as tensions between Israelis and Palestinians mounted again, with clashes and skirmishes growing more prevalent. On Thursday, those violent conflict became even more deadly, with the brutal mob beating of Israeli soldiers and Israel’s swift, and serious, military retaliation. We may not understand all the nuances and issues at the heart of their deep-rooted, centuries-old conflict, but we can understand the fear of deadly mobs and the pain that comes from a senseless death.

And the apparent terrorist attack on the U.S.S. Cole serves as a shocking, and even frightening, reminder that we in the United States often feel protected from the violence and terrorism that residents of so many other countries face each day of their lives. We are not safe … nor are our military personnel … from terrorist violence.

As we watch this history unfold, and as our hearts ache for the victims and their families, we must remember this.

For all its natural wonders, for all its resources, for all its beauty, our world’s greatest danger continues to be the people who inhabit it.