Maybe We Are “Knowing” The Wrong Thing

The movie Beasts of No Nation is one of those gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, and yet very necessary stories… it’s a film that is difficult to watch, but it is one that we should watch.

It depicts the story of Agu – a young orphan boy who has lost his family and is taken in by a commander of guerrilla soldiers.

When I saw the movie, I was haunted by this one line—spoken by Agu shortly after he had killed someone.

“God… I have killed a man. It is the worst sin. But I am knowing… it is the right thing to be doing.” —Agu, Beasts of no Nation

God, I have killed a man. It is the worst sin.

But I am knowing, it is the right thing to be doing.

This simple expression of a torn internal perspective, from the thoughts or prayers of a child, reflects our own internal conflict with violence, retribution, killing. Something inside us says it is the worst sin. And then the justification comes. But we are knowing, it is the right thing to be doing.

Maybe we are “knowing” the wrong thing.

What broke in a man when he could bring himself to kill another? —Alan Paton