Colman McCarthy at the MGP Assembly

Colman McCarthy knocked my socks off this weekend. He gave a riviting speech that held a bunch of political noise-makers in thrall. One person told me that the speech changed her life.

I have a very poor memory and didn't take notes during the speech, so a lot of it has already vanished into the nether-regions of my brain. (To be fair to myself, I was one of the Assembly organizers and was simultaneously listening to McCarthy's speech while doing other things.)

At any rate, McCarthy gave a great blend of humor and seriousness and two things really stuck with me. The first was towards the beginning of his speech. He called for a moment of silence to remember all the people who have been killed in war, all the people who have been the victims of violence, all the women who have been battered by their significant other, all the animals who have been slaughtered for food. He said to pray if that's what you're into, but it didn't matter if you were a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Aetheist, Agnostic, whatever...you didn't need to be religious or of a particular religion to pray or be spiritual.

That's something I've heard other speakers say, and it's something I hold true and dear.

The other thing that struck me (or stuck with me) was his comments that nonviolence starts in the home. He said that it didn't matter if you do good in the world if you treat your family poorly. He cited Martin Luther King, a known wife-beater, and Ghandi (of all people) who apparently had a very poor relationship with his son.

At the end of his talk, he received a standing ovation. And deserved it.