Reparation*

Reparation means to make amends for the wrong someone has done.  I often hear the word today.  Hearing it is part of this story.  We might make amends, but we can’t do away with the wrong.  That’s what’s needed.  We need to erase the wrong, to make it as if it never was, to so right the wrong that the wronged receive a cleansing so complete as to never feel wronged at all, as turning black to white or dark to light.  A better word might be atonement which even its very sound (hearing) seems to open doors to vistas of glory…as turning crimson stains as white as snow.

*On reading Leviticus  

Betty standing in the Rio Grand, who, herself,
has received Atonement.