The old tree’s tendrils tell a story. Maybe more than one.

New growth has curled from a 150-year-old banyan tree, scorched one year ago in the fires that devastated Lahaina, on the Hawaii island of Maui. The symbolism has been widely noted. 

Hawaii-based writer Jack Kiyonaga – who supported the work of Monitor reporter Sarah Matusek on Maui last year, and did reporting of his own – reports today on a development that goes beyond the obvious themes of hope and resilience.

He looks at the island of Molokai, visible from Maui but a world apart – its focus agrarianism, not tourism. It has kept Native Hawaiian values like sustainability and self-reliance at the fore. As Maui works to recover, Molokai is reminding some there of old roots worth nurturing.