Walking the Trails of Healing

By Alexander Atkinson Jr.

There are trails that wind through the forests of Southeast Alaska that have been walked for generations. Long before roads were built, our ancestors followed these paths with purpose. They hunted, gathered, visited neighboring villages, shared stories, and carried the wisdom of one generation into the next. Those trails connected families, communities, and nations.

Today, I find myself walking a different kind of trail.

It is a trail of discovery.

A trail of remembrance.

A trail that has taken me deep into the history of my own people, the Tsimshian Nation.

The farther I walk, the more I discover that our history is both beautiful and heartbreaking.

Like many First Nations people across North America, our people carry stories that are difficult to tell. Stories of loss. Stories of traditions interrupted. Stories of language pushed aside. Stories of children and families forever changed. Stories of outsiders who came believing they were bringing civilization while often failing to recognize the dignity, wisdom, and identity that already existed among the people they encountered.

Some came with genuine compassion and sincere faith.

Others came carrying ideas that wounded far more than they healed.

History reminds us that not everyone who claimed the name of Christ reflected the heart of Christ. Too often, institutions and individuals confused the Gospel with culture, authority, or control. In doing so, many Indigenous people experienced deep wounds that continue to echo through our communities today.

Those wounds did not disappear when the missionaries left.

Many of our Elders still carry them.

You can hear it in their voices when they tell their stories.

You can see it in the silence that sometimes follows.

Pain has a way of traveling through generations until someone is willing to stop, listen, and begin the work of healing.

As I’ve listened to our Elders, I’ve found myself asking difficult questions.

How do we honor the truth of what happened without allowing it to define who we are?

How do we acknowledge injustice without becoming consumed by bitterness?

Can a people who have endured so much truly forgive?

These are not easy questions.

They deserve more than quick answers.

I have come to believe that forgiveness is not pretending the wounds never existed.

It is not forgetting our history.

It is not excusing wrong.

Forgiveness begins with telling the truth.

Only then can healing begin.

For me, this journey has become deeply personal.

I’m not writing as a historian looking back from a distance.

I’m writing as a Tsimshian man walking these trails for myself.

Some days the path is filled with gratitude as I discover the strength, resilience, and faithfulness of our ancestors.

Other days it is marked by sorrow as I uncover chapters of our history that leave me asking why.

Yet with every step, I become more convinced that our Creator never intended His people to remain imprisoned by yesterday’s pain.

The enemy delights in division, bitterness, and brokenness.

Our Creator calls us toward restoration.

He calls us back to relationship—with Him, with one another, and with the identity He gave us long before anyone else tried to redefine us.

Perhaps this generation has been given a sacred opportunity.

Not to erase the past.

Not to ignore it.

But to face it honestly.

To listen to our Elders with humility.

To preserve the stories of our ancestors.

To reclaim the beauty of our culture.

To strengthen our families.

To encourage our communities.

And to leave our children an inheritance that is greater than our wounds.

I don’t claim to have all the answers.

In fact, I suspect this journey will leave me with more questions than answers.

But perhaps that is how healing begins.

One conversation.

One story.

One prayer.

One trail at a time.

As I continue writing these reflections, I invite you to walk beside me.

Let’s ask the difficult questions together.

Let’s honor those who came before us.

Let’s listen before we speak.

Let’s seek understanding before judgment.

Let’s choose healing over hatred.

Let’s choose unity over division.

Let’s become the people our Creator always intended us to be.

The trail ahead will not always be easy.

But I believe it leads home.