This year, there have been at least five terror attacks in England. The latest of these attacks happened on September 15th at the Parsons Green tube station.

America responded appropriately. Security at the Ed Sheerhan concert involved bag checks, wanding, and visual ticket checks every time you entered the arena. England was under the critical terror threat level until Sunday.

For me, though, every time I hear about another attack, my mind goes straight to my family. My extended family all live in England. My dad's: up north in the lake district. My mom's: in Leicester and London.

On March 22nd, Westminster Bridge was attacked. My cousins attend University in London, and while they live just outside the city, I still worry that they'll be visiting the sites or wandering the city. The time change creates a lot of anxiety, as the attack happened in the mid afternoon, and my cousins aren't necessarily checking their phones. As the death toll rose, and the injuries increased, my anxiety grew and grew. The next morning I woke up to a text from my cousin saying they were totally fine, but shaken up.

May 22nd, the bombing at the Ariana Grande concert created anxiety that my 15 year old baby cousin and her mom could have been in attendance. The late hour of this attack meant that my aunt was asleep and not answering. I was already anxious about leaving for Rome, but this ruined me. Again, the next morning I woke up to a text saying they were fine.

June 3rd, another attack in London. I was abroad and my roommate and I were both worrying about our family in London. Thankfully, everyone we knew was okay

June 19th, a van hits pedestrians outside a mosque in London.

September 15th, the bombing at Parsons Green happens during rush hour. My cousins take the tube almost every day. Having been in class all day, I didn't know the story until I got home to my dad's house and he asked if the girls were ok. Thankfully again, they were.

Why am I telling you all this? Because I recognize that while I have been lucky, I know people like me have not been. I know that people have lost family. And I feel like many Americans see these kind of attacks and discount them, since they don't personally affect them. But these attacks affect everyone, either directly or indirectly. Directly, like me and many others, with the potential of our family being affected. Indirectly, in many ways. Your best friend could be living with this fear, and you may not know. More concretely, these attacks create more instability in our already unstable world.

America, we are facing a threat from North Korea, on top of the war in the Middle East. I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that the fear that Americans are feeling towards the potentiality of being attack is the fear that England is living with too. The difference is that America's is a potential fear. England's is a real, living fear.

These attacks should stop. My cousin's husband was deployed to protect London, and now she is living in fear that he won't come home. Americans live with the fear that their family and friends won't come home from the conflicts oversees. We are the same. Why aren't we doing something to help one another? It doesn't take much to look outside of ourselves and help others. All we have to do is try it.