A recent human error made in the U.S. has put thousands of people on edge. The Hawaiian missile mix-up had Americans calling their loved ones, scrambling for the nearest shelter or taking any end of the world precautions they could think of.

With the recent fear of war, this alert was all too real and possible. It’s almost as if people are waiting for it.

It seems like there is a constant fear of war and what other countries might do to the U.S.

There seems to be much concern with what North Korea is doing that we forget that the fear that Hawaiians felt for no more than an hour, is what people in the Middle East have to deal with on a daily basis because of the U.S.

The error was simply that, an error. Americans should not be looking for someone to blame or fire because of it. Instead they should be thankful that they were never really in danger, unlike some other countries.

According to CNN and BBC, countries like Yemen and Syria are having a major humanitarian and refugee crisis, and what kind of alert did they get? I am sure citizens did not receive a text message on their iPhones letting them know that they were in danger and should take shelter. Instead these countries have to suffer through losing their children because they were unable to seek shelter fast enough or have to leave what is left of their homes in order to survive.

But to this, most Americans turn a blind eye. Why? Unless it directly affects us as a country, most Americans are not bothered with the current climate in the Middle East.

The terror reigning over these countries does not seem to matter until it reaches the U.S. in the form of a terrorist attack. Until then, headlines telling us know how many innocent casualties the Middle East has suffered will go unread.

Instead of worrying and looking to see if Kim Jong Un wants war, why don’t we focus on the wars we have started in other countries?

Nicte Hernandez can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_opinion on Twitter.