The Trail of Tears should teach all of us the importance of respect for others who are different from ourselves and compassion for those who have difficulties.

My own special knowledge is about the Abenaki people and, to some degree, my Iroquois neighbors. But whenever I write anything about another tribal nation, I always get a lot of help. Not just from books, but from people who belong to that tribal nation.

Every year, I travel extensively in the autumn and the spring. I set most of the winter and summer aside for my family and my own tribal relatives. But during that traveling time, I often find myself visiting other native communities around the continent - perhaps a dozen or more each year.

At a time when Europeans already had a long history of violent contact with Native people, Lewis and Clark made most of their journey in peace.