The ongoing anti-Hosni Mubarak protests in Egypt and to a somewhat lesser extent Ugandan gay activist David Kato’s murder have made headlines over the past week. And both stories raise questions mere sound bites and tweets cannot answer. Who will prove a suitable alternative to Mubarak if his regime falls? Should anti-gay American evangelicals who operate inside Uganda be held accountable for Kato’s death? And should Americans even care about these and other events that take place thousands of miles away from the homeland?

My friend Paul became an American citizen at Boston’s Faneuil Hall on Thursday, Jan. 27. One of the most poignant parts of the ceremony was when the judge asked the new citizens to stand after he called out their countries of origin: Angolans, Brazilians, Haitians, Jamaicans, Sierra Leoneans, British and Egyptians–yes, Egyptians–were among them. This simple, yet powerful act once again demonstrated the world is a global village. And Egypt, Uganda and other countries that continue to dominate headlines are not as far away as one may naively think.