Elle Madelyn

“The Huffington Post recently interviewed a nun and a monk at Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village monastery in France, to ask what advice they would give to activists who want to take action during Trump’s presidency. Sister Peace, who previously worked in the office of the mayor of Washington, says action must be inspired by a deep-rooted sense of love. “If we can be strong in ourselves, then we could offer a resistance that is nonviolent,” she said. “But that means that we ourselves are at a place where we can have that recognition and we can offer that to another. And that is a great, great source of love and having the other feel they’re being recognized and listened to and embraced.” She says that those who are passionate about taking action should learn from the nonviolent approach of the civil rights movement. Referring to the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, during which marchers remained passive despite being chased and beaten, she said: “They were taught how to be quiet, how to be still, how not to resist and fight back no matter what happened.”