Beaded Devotions

Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière.

you know that line about “if a soldier forces you to carry his pack for one mile, carry it for two”?

there was a thing where roman soldiers could demand that civilians carry their gear, but only for a mile. obviously people did not like this. they had shit to be doing. they did not want to be some rando’s pack mule any more than people today would. also, it was kind of scary, because here’s this guy with a weapon saying “you’re my fetchit bitch or else.” and you had to go off with him wherever he wanted, up to one mile.

but jesus was all about the nonviolent resistance. i mean, sure, you could run, but then maybe they see you later and point you out to the cops, it’s a small world. maybe they chase you down and kick you around a bit. hell, maybe they show you their stabs. you gonna bring a sword of your own and make a duel out of it? that’s even worse than just carrying the damn pack.

so what you do is, you just keep carrying it.

at first they don’t notice the mile’s up. but then it starts feeling kind of long. they find themselves waiting for you to call time. but you don’t. you just keep going. they start checking the landmarks. are they lost? are they dreaming? are you stealing their shit? you can’t be, can you, since you’re right there. but you’re still HOLDING it. they’re wondering if they’re ever gonna get their centurion undies back. they could ask, but waitasec, you’re carrying their stuff, which is what they said to do, so that’s good, right?

but why are you still HERE?

are you trying to be friends? are you an assassin? are you a vet just helping a brother out? are you up to something? are you crazy? are you sleepwalking? are THEY sleepwalking? WHAT IS EVEN GOING ONNN NN N

at mile marker 2 you set the pack down and go “have a nice day!” and bail

They could only carry it for a mile, and if they carried it further (the assumption being that the soldier kept forcing the person to keep carrying it) the soldier could get in HUUUUUGE trouble.

So this soldier and some civilian (I believe it had to be someone who was not a Roman citizen??  I can’t quite remember) are walking along, and they hit the mile marker.  The soldier demands his pack be returned.

“No no, allow me, I’m not tired!”  Says the civilian, and keeps on walking.

The soldier keeps asking, maybe rather threatening, but the civilian just keeps kindly insisting to help, it’s not a problem, let me help you, etc. and continues walking.

It then gets to the point that the soldier has to be like “Hey, man c’mon, I could really get in trouble for this…please give it back”

What has just happened was a serious change in power dynamics.  It went from the soldier being in control of the situation and treating the civilian as lesser, to the civilian being in control, and the soldier treating the civilian as an equal.