An edition rich in testimonies, from politics to art. One volunteer: «With my heart overflowing with joy, I can now say that the fabric of my existence is precious»
Isabella García-Ramos Herrera
In my third year as a volunteer at EncuentroMadrid, whose 21st edition took place from 25 to 27 October, I realised that my «yes» has become two things: the consequence of one piece of work and the starting point for another. The work that precedes the «yes» is a remembrance, a recognition. I have to learn to see how, in my life today, something is happening that corresponds to me enough to make me say «yes» to devoting my time and efforts to building this place over the weekend. Once the «yes» has been said, another piece of work begins: verifying whether giving my life in this way really does correspond to me.
I walked through the entrance of the Mirador de Cuatro Vientos, aware that I would spend the three days with a question in my heart. I wanted the Lord to come and meet me in this place; I expected everything from this weekend! As soon as I arrived, I put on my red T-shirt and read this year’s title written in white letters: «I am still alive, and I think the fabric of life is precious», a phrase by Takashi Nagai, the Japanese doctor who survived the atomic bomb explosion in Nagasaki.
As Carlos Perlado, president of EncuentroMadrid, said in his opening address, «we have come to verify whether this title is true, especially in today’s world». And so everything that happened became a great opportunity for verification. The programme, with its variety of events, was proof that every aspect of life is interesting: everything arouses our interest because everything can tell us who we are and what we are made of. The exhibitions also bore witness to this. One entitled «The fabric of life. Biology and the wonder of being alive» and the other «The square of encounter. Andrea Aziani, Marcos Pou, Carmina Salgado, Quique Bicand and Carlos Álvarez» documented how what interests us most is the happening of life and what happens to us in life.
As Friday drew to a close with a Bruce Springsteen tribute concert, I realised that EncuentroMadrid is above all a place of hope. Saturday morning began with a round table on the social and political situation in Spain. The dialogue developed between the host, Juan Carlos Hernández, and the three guests, Diego Garrocho, Ramón González Férriz and Ricardo Dudda. The conclusion they reached was that «identity can be lived as a trench or as an embrace». The truth of these words became evident to me when I saw one of the speakers stay for the whole day. When they took him back home he asked: «But what is this place?». And he kept repeating: «What a welcoming place, I felt received and embraced!».
An embrace that Fabrice Hadjadj also spoke about when commenting on this year’s title: «Life makes more sense when it is embraced with all its risks and possibilities». How many times have we heard that circumstances are a privileged occasion for a relationship with the Mystery! And here came someone who launched us back into the world with this idea! «In the midst of catastrophe, a glimmer of truth breaks through that someone manages to glimpse», said the philosopher. And I thought that EncuentroMadrid is precisely this. It is that glimmer of truth that breaks through in the midst of a world with wars, conflicts and crises of every kind.
Truths that open us to hope
, such as those illustrated in the dialogue on work, or painful ones, such as those that emerged in a conversation between the poets José Mateos and Alicia Saliva. «Life is a relationship», they said, «and this relationship heals and binds up the wound«. Wounds like the one Spain went through after the Civil War, which was tended and treated with the bandage of the Transition. This was the example that emerged in the conversation between the politicians Ramón Jauregui, Aurora Nacarino-Brabo and Professor Pablo de Lora. «We need people who will take the country on their shoulders and move forward». When I heard these words I thought of my «yes» to EncuentroMadrid. Why does one «take on one’s shoulders» the building of a place like this? Because one loves the place to which one belongs.
At the event dedicated to Eduardo Chillida, the artist’s voice rang out saying: «The horizon is the homeland of all men». Something like that can only be said when one is certain that all men, truly all of them, share the greatest thing: the longing for truth, for love, for goodness… And we saw an Antonio López who, with surprising honesty, wrestled between his desire to believe in God and his inability to do so.
Sunday began with the Mass presided over by the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, Monsignor José Cobo, who reminded us that «we go out into the world, to places like this where we will meet one another, and the Lord awaits us there». And since everything that happened was a provocation to verify whether the title was true or not, the event that followed the Mass was a challenge: «Can life be precious even in illness?». Begoña Arespacochaga was very clear. «Many times I would have liked simply to get under the covers and disappear, but I could not do it. My freedom never allowed me to throw in the towel. Because my freedom makes me stay attached to what makes me breathe, and giving up, admitting defeat, does not make me breathe». What a way of seeing her freedom!
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Another cry of life were the testimonies that brought EncuentroMadrid to a close. In a round table on the war in Ukraine, the three speakers stated that we are not made for evil. We are not made for war. We are not made for anything other than our fulfilment. The paradox is to find this fulfilment in the least comfortable situations. Like a Ukrainian couple forced to flee their home to a Mediterranean country where they knew no one. Like an Italian woman who decides to remain in Moscow despite the war because she knows the dignity of the Russian people.
I finished my third year as a volunteer at EncuentroMadrid with my heart overflowing with joy. I left the Mirador de Cuatro Vientos happy, fulfilled, because I understood that I was – I am – alive. And because I also understood that, thanks to this Presence that came to meet me through the concrete faces of this company, I can say that the fabric of my life is truly precious.
Machine translation. If you spot a mistake, do write to us.