I am the frog swimming happily in the clear water of a pond,
and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence, feeds itself on the frog. . . .
I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
My legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda.
I am the 12-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving. . . .
Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and my laughs at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.
Please call me by my true names, so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist Monk and Peave Activist