It’s easy to measure the state of a country’s economy, a gaggle of statistics do just that. Simply relying on fi gures like GDP and growth rate however, gives a reductive not to say distorted insight into anation’s soul.

It’s trickier by far to calculate variations in quality oflife. Considering how deeply these changes affect us all, one would at least think that the exercise would be worth taking a stab at. Not that you’d a panel of brainiacs to tell you that the set of conditions that make Mauritius so unique are under assault from a whole raft of factors, not least of which is our growing indifference towards each other.

A confession: I sometimes (often) lose my rag at the constant barkingof my neighbour’s dog. I know for a fact that he considers my outbursts a bit mad and even rude, to put it lightly. For the record, they sometimes (often) are. And if it’s true that my lack of tact visà- vis what has become a fi xation has not been to my credit, it can be at least partially explained by what can be construed as an absence of consideration for the wellbeing of others. You see, it’s about more than the nuisance value of a cooped-up animal venting its frustration by barking at its own shadow it’s symptomatic of a society where it’s each Mauritian for him or herself, everyone else be damned.

The concept that my rights end where yours begin is increasingly becoming anathema, not to say ludicrous. Some will argue that this state of affairs is exacerbated by a high population density. But surely the fact that we live in such close proximity to one another dictates that we pay more, not less, attention to the wellbeing
of those around us. Perhaps the most frustrating thing though is that a little effort can go a very long way indeed in ameliorating our collective quality of life. That so few people feel compelled or even inclined to make that effortshould concern us all for the simple reason that this civic disengagement undermines our collective quality of life.

It helps explain, for instance, why the authorities think it’s alright to hand over our best public beaches to hotel promoters or to postpone local elections, why our roads are such unpleasant places, why noise pollution has become so widespread as to be considered normal, the disintegration of law and order, etc. So what’s to be done? At the risk of stating the obvious, it’s perhaps worth pondering how our actions affect others and how we would react if the tables were turned. That’d be a good start. Ultimately though, we’re going to have to start thinking in terms of “progress” rather than “development”. For instance, building a car park on a historically important site can count as a development, but it might not qualify as progress. Understanding this nuance between the quantitative and the qualitative is crucial if we’re to stop alienating each other.