EDITORIAL
Hawaiian renaissance beacon lighted anew

It's comforting to have the twin-hulled voyaging canoe Hokule'a back in the water again.

Its incredible accomplishments are, of course, more a credit to those who have conceived, built, maintained, sailed and loved her than the mere plywood and fiberglass and lumber that were renewed and replaced during her year in drydock.

The Polynesian Voyaging Society has big plans for Hokule'a, sailing throughout the Hawaiian chain, serving as a classroom on its stops. The new mission is called "Navigating Change," reported Advertiser staff writer Jan TenBruggencate.

"The vessel needs a new mission because, well, Hokule'a has resoundingly accomplished its original task," he wrote in Monday's paper. The task was twofold: to right "a scholarly wrong" — the conclusion that the Pacific islands were peopled by accident — and to serve as a focus for an astonishing cultural revival.

Nainoa Thompson, the Hawaiian wayfinder who guided Hokule'a without instruments across thousands of miles of open Pacific, pointed to two fundamental accomplishments of Hokule'a: "It said it's OK to be proud of who we were. And also, for us today, it gives us meaning and a purpose, a sense of who we are."

We must also hope that this symbol that helped restore Kaho'olawe, revive the Hawaiian language and hula and more, will fire a new generation of youth, now struggling with crumbling schools, materialism culture and the lure of drugs, to excel.

Through Hokule'a they can learn pride in where they've been, and where they can go in the 21st century.