( CNN ) -- Four young boys died Wednesday after the Gaza beach where they were playing was attacked by Israeli forces . A pair of explosions in what had been nine days of relentless bombings between the two countries are to blame . The boys had been told to stay indoors . And as children tend to do , they disobeyed their parents to play on the beach where they had always been safe before . But there is no such thing as safe when enemy fire lands across your border for more than a week . They were too young to know that being a civilian provides no cover from an explosion . That war has no clean lines . This is why , as our hearts weep over the death of these innocent children -- some as young as 9 -- it would be good for us to take this time to reconsider our own fantasies about the supposed clean lines of the military strikes our own country launches . The U.S. may be justified in attacking an enemy ( just as Israel is justified in protecting itself and its children ) but it does n't always just hurt its enemies . The United States has killed its share of little boys on the beach as well , so let us look at the photos from Gaza and remember : Sometimes we 're Israel . It 's an uncomfortable thought . As a public we prefer to talk about military strikes more than we like to see what happens because of them . The hardest part about being an American citizen of the world is banishing our willful blindness . Intuitively we know innocents die by American hands . But to sleep better at night , we choose not to see the ugliness that goes into `` protecting American interests '' or keeping our gas cheap . To hold the President and Congress accountable for the military action they authorize on our behalf requires us to care . And caring that much can be exhausting . I find myself wondering : How many children have we left face down in the sand in my lifetime ? In 2002 , a U.S. helicopter mistakenly bombed a house full of wedding guests in Afghanistan , killing more than 30 , including children . The Guardian reported one little girl , Paliko , was brought to the hospital still wearing her party dress . Her entire family had been killed in the attack . This is what war looks like -- still . The world 's weaponry is more sophisticated but the carnage has n't changed . Just our willingness to see it . There are times in which military strikes can not be avoided and in those times we should mourn . Homes will be destroyed . Families will lose loved ones . Children will one day go outside to play and they may never come home . It 's not just the U.S. and its allies whose military strikes end up hitting children . In Syria two dozen children were killed when bombs fell on their elementary school in April . The U.N. says , in fact , that some 10,000 children have been killed in that country 's civil war . Yesterday four young boys , all cousins , none older than 11 , went outside to play hide and seek on a beach in Gaza . Now their parents are having funerals . One boy had part of his leg blown off and was severely burned , according to The New York Times . Nearby a smaller one with curly hair laid motionless in the sand . When you look at the pictures from this tragedy -- the beautiful blue water , waves in the distance racing to shore -- one can only imagine what a wonderful day it must 've been for them . The smiles . Laughter . And then nothing . This , too , is war . And I must remember not to allow proximity to dictate my reaction to the loss of life , especially life so young . When our newspapers and televisions were flooded with horrific images from the Vietnam War , we responded passionately . We do n't show the gruesome images and dead bodies like that anymore , and culturally we have grown apathetic . Politicians mock diplomacy or talk about airstrikes in the same tones in which you ask your spouse to pick up milk from the store . We must remember Paliko , think about the four little boys on the beach , consider the countless other children whose blood still stains our well-meaning but sometimes clumsy hands . The photo of a man carrying a lifeless young body through the sand struck a nerve for many of us around the country . I pray going forward that visceral response continues to be the country 's reaction whenever we hear talk of war from our politicians . In war there are no clean lines . There are no safe beaches to play on . There is no safety . In 2012 , a U.S. Army sergeant walked more than a mile from his base late one night and killed 16 unarmed Afghans , nine of them children , in their homes . His attorney said the officer suffered a mental breakdown while serving the last of his four deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan . He was sentenced to life in prison while the victim 's families serve out a different kind of life sentence . This is all part of war . And it 's as horrible as it sounds .
LZ Granderson : 4 boys killed while playing on Gaza beach attacked by Israeli forces . LZ : We weep , but should consider : U.S. has inflicted this kind of collateral damage , too . He says we tend not to feel responsible for distant carnage inflicted for U.S. interests . LZ : We should remember our visceral reaction today next time our politicians beat war drums .