Why do we hate mimes? Honestly, I've been pondering thatquestion. People say mimes are annoying, but how annoying can a silent humanbeing be when trapped inside an invisible box? Do we hate mimes because one timein Paris, when mimes were running noiselessly in vast numbers across the city, aman decided he was perturbed with them? Did he create a dead-mime joke, hisrevulsion spreading from person to person, culture to culture? And here we are inmodern America, loathing, or at least not liking, mimes. I have never seen a mimein America, leading me to believe the negative connotation of the word"mime" rarely stems from a horrific experience as a child finding outthat the invisible brick wall is not real and the mime is a sham.

So thequestion remains: Why do people hate people? People start wars, have fights andharm others for the same reason they hope mimes suffocate in their littleinvisible boxes. One person, or group of people, decides he or she is sick andtired of a group or individual (or perhaps he or she is merely bored), and startsa conflict. Don't go blaming politics or religious beliefs for war. I have notread a single government document or religious text promoting hatred. As for the"I want what the other people have" reason for war - be it land, portsor a classy dame named Helen - well, that causes war, but not hatred. So we areback to ground zero: hating the mimes of the world. And we hate them without everasking ourselves why. And groups of Protestants and Catholics in Northern Irelandhate each other and do not ask why. And so on and so forth until the world isfull of mimes shouting at each other with very real guns in their hands, whilethe few sane people of the world hide under rocks and ask why.

So I askyou this: Do you hate mimes and if you do, why?