The other night, I realized that I didn’t entirely know as much about ISIS as I wanted to, so I read some recent articles on their involvement in the Syrian conflict. These led me to a documentary from Vice News, which established their history, leadership, plan of action, purpose, and progress thus far. 

At one point, a man who preached propaganda from his van for the Islamic State was interviewed. He had originally been from Belgium. He spoke of his faith in ISIS and its leadership and his oath sworn to Abu Bakr Al-Bagdhadi, the caliph. 

His son was then brought forward, very shy and easily no older than five. The man asked his son if he wanted to return to Belgium. His son said he did not. Then he asked his son if he liked the Islamic State. His son replied that he did. He then inquired of his son as to why they killed “infidels,” meaning mainly Europeans and Americans in general. His son replied, “They kill Muslims.”

Now, putting the root causes of the conflict aside, think about it: Europeans and Americans have killed Muslims. Perhaps not unprovoked, but we have. This little boy was raised knowing only that, and he, at such a young age, already wants to kill us. 

I was angry at this boy, but I couldn’t figure out why. What he was saying was perfectly true. I couldn’t even think of any flaws in his argument. Yes, ISIS has threatened the US and Europe and committed atrocious acts of terrorism against us, but haven’t the Europeans been invading their lands for centuries? Haven’t we tried to insert our methods of government into ways of life that have existed practically since the dawn of civilization? And as they have killed some of our people, have we not killed some of theirs?

This boy wanted to kill me. He made that expressly clear. And I found myself thinking that I might want to kill him, too. But the only reason I could find to do so was because he wanted to kill me in the first place.

My point is that it’s pretty apparent that both sides of this conflict thoroughly believe they are right. Naturally, that can’t be true. So one or both of us has to be wrong. But neither will admit it. 

What will we do if it’s us?