Nigeria, June 5 -- I do not always watch viral videos of Nigerians being tortured by bandits and kidnappers in the country's vast ungoverned spaces. I do avoid them for my sanity. I prefer to read about their ordeals in newspapers or listen to rescued victims recount their experiences. Watching those viral clips is an assault on the senses that leaves me nauseous for days.

I watched one recently and I am still struggling to feel human again. It leaves the kind of helplessness you feel when you want to act but cannot, and want to help but cannot. I often wish I had the spiritual authority our pastors and sheikhs claim when they say they "hear the voice of God." I wish I were that man of God who could command God to grant my wish in a bli...