Trail of Tears. How did this historical topic with such a sad sounding name make it in a Christmas story collection entitled With Gladness?

Well, I always write the stories I want to read. Trail of Tears is a dark moment in American history and the people who endured the hardships and injustices and worked to rebuild their lives in a new land. There’s just something courage-inspiring in that history. And it’s overlook, smoothed over, or politicized too often.

I didn’t write the story to emphasize the political conflicts, broken promises, and injustices. There’s actually a lot of faith and hope in the story. However, because the short story focuses on the characters and their situation, it leaves out a lot of historical background. We’ll try to fill in some of the historical details in tonight’s blog post. Continue reading →