Snack time during the weeks of confinement no longer meant having a soda and chips on a terrace. For work, family and friends meetings, there was a screen in between and everyone was at home. I open Photo GalleryI turn on the microphone and the webcam I spend some time with Javi Fernández Contreras, a graduate in Business Administration and Advertising and Public Relations, who, since the state of alarm was declared, has been anxious to make the most of the time and not give in to discouragement.
He is a young man from Seville, living in Pozuelo (Madrid) since he made the leap to university, who is concerned that society is overcome with so much pessimism: "I see that many are writing off these weeks we've been locked in and just filling in the days.". He tells me that the first few days he was in online with four other friends to chat about the divine and the human. In one of these conversations, the big idea came up: "One of us proposed: ¿And if we take advantage of all this to stop and really think, instead of dedicating ourselves to killing time?". The proposal consisted of making direct in which they dealt with formative topics. But not only among themselves, but also by inviting some friends who were not used to participating in this type of meetings. They created a group of whatsapp open.
Word of mouth grew. People started to join. In less than 24 hours they had more than 2000 people. "This forced us to quickly create a logo, a business name, a website and a YouTube channel.".
In each connection they invited a person to contribute their vision of the current situation. Here was born ItsTimeToThinklive talks with the purpose of helping to grow inwardly. "In principle we were five, the guest and whoever else wanted to join, but four weeks later more than 30.000 devices were connected to some of the talks".Javi admits, surprised. When the guest finishes his presentation, which usually lasts about 20 minutes, he comes into direct contact with the audience: any viewer can contribute his point of view or send his question.
The idea has evolved organically and the range of topics has expanded to include the future of the Church, moral relativism, the need for revolutionary leaders and the roots of Europe. The talks have been given by well-known guests such as José Luis Martínez Almeida, Jaime Mayor Oreja, Carlos Chiclana, Jesús Higueras, José María Zavala, Fulgencio Espa or Nicolás Álvarez de las Asturias.
"We receive many emails daily, the best of all is that many who do not believe in God are connecting. With Ramon Goyarrola, a priest, an atheist friend asked a question and after the talk he wrote to us thanking us for the immense good that the answer did him".Javier points out. They try to prioritize the questions of people who disagree with the opinion of the speaker, introducing some controversy so that they can clarify issues on which usually little is entered into the racket. In one of the last talks, they addressed with Nicolás Álvarez de las Asturias the 16 questions most asked by atheists today. The result was a great success, with many feedbacks of people who are changing their opinion about the Church.
Later on, I will make a zoom with the rest of the friends, excited about the fruits of the initiative.. All agree: "Many times we put up mental barriers to not start this type of project, but with God's help everything is much simpler than we think. We have not done anything extraordinary, we have simply taken the initiative".. "Let's think that the state of shock that society is in is having positive consequences."explains Tabo. "A lot of people are thinking about things they didn't think about before, and we see it firsthand."says Álvaro. "It is curious that so many atheists or people far from God connect to this type of talks and on top of that they ask questions and are grateful for the answers, that shows a great openness".Jose values.
"Three months ago this would have been unthinkable."Iñigo is surprised. They have achieved what they were looking for: not to kill time during confinement, but to use it to grow. n
