WHAT IS MEANT BY “ATONEMENT” AND WHY IT MATTERS?             Sometimes we say things like “You’ll have to atone for those sins”. Actually, hardly anyone uses that word anymore. It means “to make amends or reparation for wrongdoing” (Webster’s New World Dictionary). It represents a kind of pay-back for having done something wrong to someone.…

FINLAND THROUGH MY MEMORY’S MIND’S EYE             I have been to Finland with my Finnish wife Mari 29 times. Sometimes I reminisce about those days without looking anything up and this is what I come up with. My first trip brought us from Sweden to Turku on the Western coast of Suomi (Finland’s name for…