As I watched the fireball engulf the top of one of the World Trade Center twin towers, people around me screamed, "People are jumping out of the building and burning!" While pieces of paper were floating to the ground, individuals remained trapped inside the burning buildings.

The ground trembled like an earthquake, and I heard a roaring sound. I looked back to see a giant tidal wave of smoke and debris billowing toward me. I started running as fast as I could from what seemed to be certain death, hoping to find safety.

Gasping for air, I spun through a bank's revolving door and huddled with other terrified strangers. Our eyes remained fixated on the glass doors for fear that fire would creep through the cracks. On the ground floor, there were no windows to jump out.

Later that day, I left the building and walked into a different world. I noticed a young woman who seemed unaffected by the chaos swarming around her. Curious, I asked her how she could be so calm. She snapped, "I came to New York as a tourist to get away from this!"

"Where are you from?" I asked.

"Iran," she said.

As an American, I lived 9/11 as a day of shock, destruction and terror. But it was clear that I had crossed paths with someone who was greatly desensitized to acts of unbearable violence. Stepping into her shoes, I tried to imagine the constant threat of danger that enveloped her way of life.

Sept. 11, 2001, forced us to collectively reflect on the disconnect between the way we live our lives and the way others live theirs in different parts of the world – to challenge our assumptions and get to know diverse cultures, norms and values – so that we can learn to prevent such tragedies in the future. But we have not fully seized this opportunity.

Today, with our military engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan, and threats emanating from other parts of the globe about which we know little, this lack of insight is an enormous problem. Whether it is fighting terrorism or stabilizing the world economy, these global challenges will always entail struggle. But if we do not understand who or what we are dealing with, we will face continued difficulty in fully engaging our neighbors and addressing major threats to our security.

We must rethink the very nature of our foreign engagement and adopt new strategies that would allow every citizen to participate in our efforts abroad. We can build a better understanding of faraway cultures and, consequently, identify and address problems before they grow.

We already have vital service avenues such as the Peace Corps, but we need to go beyond programs of charity and development. We need initiatives that will allow us directly to address the challenges that threaten America's security and prosperity. We should enact and fully implement new international initiatives, such as a "Diplomacy Corps," that would call upon up-and-coming leaders to live and study at embassies around the world, while working with local populations in those countries to navigate differences in language, culture and values.

The goal of such an initiative would not just be to outline a broader vision of diplomacy as a matter of strategic importance but also to create a framework for integrating civilian and military efforts in national-security affairs. This will require imagination and the work of generations, but the dividends earned in advancing statecraft and building global partnerships could be incalculable.

In the days after 9/11, many of our military and civilian leaders had no sophisticated understanding of Afghanistan or Iraq. We are still paying the price for that lack of knowledge, as the threat of terrorism is not going away. Hakimullah Mehsud, a 28-year-old Pakistani Taliban commander responsible for several deadly terrorist attacks, was recently appointed as the new operational head of the militant group. If Mehsud is still alive – some reports are alleging that he's been killed – his promotion could lead to renewed cycles of violence from the next generation of terrorist leaders.

Today, I cannot help but consider the fact that the terrorist Mehsud, the young Iranian woman and I are all in the same age range, yet with such vastly different world views. It is a striking demonstration of the immense chasm that exists among not only our respective cultures and values, but how we identify with and relate to the rest of the world.

Over the past eight years, I have come to realize that Americans of all generations must make a stronger effort to understand the world in which we live. If we as a nation do not better grasp the people and the problems of this century, we will have significant challenges keeping our nation as safe and strong as it was in the last century.

Melissa Skorka, a Sacramento native, is director of the Security Fellowshipatthe Truman National Security Project in Washington, D.C.