Daniel Pearl and Omar Sheikh were both highly educated individuals from privileged backgrounds who saw the world very differently. Pearl was a humanist who became an accomplished journalist and spent most of his career reporting from the Muslim world as part of a quest to promote cross-cultural understanding. Sheikh was radicalized by events that he regarded as the global persecution of Muslims, and became an Islamic militant who chose a deeply violent method to achieve what he believed in. After 9/11, their paths crossed in Pakistan, with tragic consequences.