Turning back the clock 30 years, I recently made a short stopover in the Xmas of my childhood. I must concede the experience was quite disturbing besides its load of nostalgia. Like everybody, I am concerned with my age and this trip in time made me feel like I am thrice as old than I am. In fact the world has changed radically within those three decades, a facelift that seems to have warranted centuries to take effect!

Could you imagine Christmas where boys and girls would be offered a limited choice of toys ranging from dolls and mock plastic guns to dolls and compendiums? Could you conceive Christmas without emails, SMS on your mobile phones, hand-held electronic games and an array of hyper and supermarkets across the island with plenty of consumer goods to choose from? Could you visualise Christmas with a single national radio channel now that we are used to a choice of private radios, multicoloured cable TV and entertainment outlets?

Let?s be honest, our country has upheld the challenge of tuning with technological and economical progress, which has undeniably uplifted our standard of living. This would have been impossible without industry, will power, vision, sacrifice and love of democracy to mention but a few conditions needed?

Yet, a courageous nation cannot be content with what it has achieved. The values that have taken it where it is, should be constantly revisited and nurtured. There are still 25,000 households, living in poverty in our country. Our security seems threatened by an increase in crime and our elitist educational system looks like it solely deifies academic capabilities. These are only two of the areas to be addressed so that everybody can share the magic of Christmas in a modern Mauritius.

The sketch staged on Christmas eve celebration at Loreto Convent Rose-Hill will always remain on my mind as one of the most pertinent, ingenious and well conceived I?ve ever seen. It shows that our country holds a reservoir of talents other than academic skills. Would it not be desirable if arts and sports academies were developed to take on board those who, for a reason or another, cannot catch the competitive academic train?

A radio journalist visiting a destitute region during his Christmas gift-giving crusade reported how good three girls were at dancing to RnB tunes. Would it not be unfair if these three poverty-stricken teenagers were enlisted into dubious businesses while they could, if sponsored by adequate academies, surely develop the art they are gifted for?

The magic of Christmas depends on love. Let?s hope we improve in displaying true love in our endeavours. True love, which helps every Mauritian to benefit from progress. True love, which accepts that our welfare and happiness lies in combining our differences into better conditions. Doctors and economists are as important as singers and builders to celebrate Christmas and in everyday life. Let?s hope the magic of Xmas touches our hearts to such a point that we work harder to build a prosperous society where every citizen can develop and live out of his art.