This past summer, I traveled to Jordan for the first time since I was a child. I was brimming with excitement in the months leading up to the trip, wrapping up my second semester of college while daydreaming about seeing family for the first time in over a decade and walking the streets I only remembered through faded memories and old photos. But what was supposed to be a trip about roots and reconnection became a reminder of the fragility of peace.

In our over-politicized and under-empathetic world, war is a given. But desensitization doesn’t have to be the only response. It is possible to care for those suffering, though we’re far from the conflict. We don’t have to trade compassion fatigue for apathy. And in a world where strength is rewarded and kindness rejected, it’s of the utmost importance that we remember and respect the sanctity of human life.