"makes us realize" is a perfectly valid and usable phrase in written English.
You can use it in various contexts; for example: This situation makes us realize how privileged we are.
"It makes us realize that the ICU is rough on families; for us, the staff, we get used to it (Physician 4).
More than just a metric we're using to pat ourselves on the back, it's a number that makes us realize that we are most definitely onto something.
As Picasso said, "Art is a lie that makes us realize truth".
Gregerson makes us realize all the suffering adjacent to us in daily life.
Art, he said, is a lie, a lie that makes us realize the truth".
"It really makes us realize how great my Stanford benefit is.
We live in a society, Brill makes us realize, that depends on both.
Picasso said, "Art is the lie that makes us realize the truth".
It also makes us realize just how quickly the protest movement vanished from the headlines.
It usually invites reciprocity and makes us realize that our hard truths aren't such big deals, after all.
