As a nation, we have learned the hard way that our borders are not free from the wrath of terrorists willing to push their political agendas by taking the lives of themselves and thousands of innocent people.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks gave us a firsthand look and we see the daily occurrences that rain horror throughout the Middle East.

Sunday’s deadly attack on a Protestant church in Islamabad, Pakistan, has prompted the U.S. State Department to warn its citizens that future terrorist attacks against America and its interests are imminent.

But because of security increases at official U.S. facilities, terrorists and their sympathizers are now more likely to attack “softer targets,” such as restaurants, schools, clubs and other places where Americans congregate at home and overseas.

Americans at home are now at a greater risk than ever before of experiencing the daily massacres they once assumed only occurred in the violent Middle East. But we have known this possibility for more than six months and cannot allow it to hinder us from going about our daily lives any more than we could before.

It’s scary to have your government, which is in charge of protecting you, say it is certain more attacks are imminent, unpredictable and could happen right in your own back yard. But we cannot live our lives fearful of the unknown.

We have done an amazing job for a country still healing from a great loss, and we must not allow our patriotic spirit to fail us now. We need, in times of uncertainty, to move on more diligently and boldly than ever before.

As a nation we are more vulnerable and hurt than we have been in a long time, but we continue to move on.

Terrorists can scare us and they can hurt us, but they cannot defeat us.