Atonement

A thin haze blew in from the ocean, hiding the mainland behind a veil of gauze. Aunt Flo grew quiet; she sat on the windward deck beside me and looked over the water toward the dim and fading shore. After a while she tiurned toward me and asked, "The word atonement - do you know what it means?"

"It means to atone for your sins. To make amends for your wrongs." I had given her a quick response, mouthing empty words, because I thought that was what she wanted to hear.

"No," she said,"it means at-one-ment - to be at one with God."

I was dumbfounded by the way she broke the syllables down; I thought she was toying with words, playing silly parlor game. But my mind wouldn't let go of what she said, and the more I thought about at-one-ment as opposed to atonement, the more her insight appealed to me.

Years later, I discovered the concept wasn't originated from Aunt Flo. Rabbis often refer to at-one-moment during Yom Kippur, the hi.gh holy Day of Atonement for Jews.

~ "First You Have to Row a Little Boat" by Richard Bode