On Christmas, the U.S. was reminded yet again that terrorists pose a serious threat to our security and the American way of life. Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, a Nigerian man with claimed ties to al-Qaida, attempted to blow up a commercial airliner traveling from the Netherlands to Detroit.

The only thing that saved the 289 people on board was the failure of the bomb to ignite. It wasn't security measures or an act of heroism that stopped the bomb, but a malfunctioned detonator. Mutallab was even listed in a database in November of people suspected of terrorist ties, according to an MSNBC article. He wasn't on a watch list, and he made it through security measures, all with the bomb in tow.

And yet, a week after the attempted terrorist attack, the story is hardly making headlines. Although the images of Sept. 11 are no longer fresh in our minds, terrorism is still very much alive. Mutallab is reported to have trained with al-Qaida in Yemen, which is now fertile ground for al-Qaida to grow and train. Just as people were becoming familiar with Iraq and Afghanistan nearly nine years ago, now we must familiarize ourselves with this new country. Terrorists aren't dissapearing, but are just moving to other unstable Middle East countries.

Under President Barack Obama's administration, it is no secret that focus has been on the economy and health care. Our focus has shifted away from the threat terrorism poses. It shouldn't take an attempted terrorist attack every couple of years for security measures to tighten up again before eventually falling into the same old routine.

If anything, this failed terrorist attack did America a favor. It provided a reality check to not only the American people, but also our president. While our economy can't deserve to be ignored, neither can terrorism. We can't let terrorists instill us with fear, but we can't ignore the threats that do exist.

Terrorism is as real as the economic struggle we're in. While national reforms and struggles are in U.S. hands to solve, terrorism, as shown by the lapse in airline security, is not.

So maybe it's time to give the pocketbook woes a rest, stop disputing each other's views on health care and realize we are a nation still in two wars. And although it's been over eight years since the Sept. 11 attacks, we're still under attack. The U.S. can't afford to wait until more Americans die on U.S. soil to be reminded that terrorism is not in the past.