As I was shaving this afternoon, preparing for an unwelcome social event, my bare chest reflected in the bathroom mirror led me to an unprecedented and curious thought: if even the Renaissance painters did not know that human heart is on the left side, as they consistently painted the spear wound on Jesus’ chest on the right side, it is very likely, assuming continuity of human experience, that the soldiers who actually implemented this act of mercy did not know it either, and that they had made a mistake, too, thus unwittingly prolonging his agony. My next thought was founded on a ray of unreflected hope: either my assumption about the continuity of human experience was wrong, or the soldiers knew something about Jesus that has passed unnoticed.