How soon is too soon?

If Hurricane Katrina were a real person, I think she have been a real slut, considering the amount of seamen she swallowed up in 2005.

It's that kind of stuff that tends to get me in a bit of trouble.

I have never been one to subscribe to all the social norms of my society. Granted, I don't run around in a bathrobe, sporting bare feet and spouting racial slurs left and right. However, one norm I have never been able to adhere to – mostly because I just can't understand it – is the practice of waiting months, or even years, before making jokes about something tragic or sad.

Something you should know about me is I have very few coping mechanisms during times of seriousness. Humor is probably at the top of that list this semester. I will make a joke moments after an incident because I can't take the gravity of the situation.

For example, I recently had a friend pass away. It was a very grim evening. Moments after we found out, a handful of friends and I gathered to have drinks, and we even made several jokes about our lost friend. Moments after our loss.

These jokes were not disparaging in any way. It was just us using our humor to cope. However, by society's standards, my friends and I are all terrible, horrible, no good, very bad people.

I don't think this is fair. I defy anybody to give me a legitimate, concrete length of time a person must wait before cracking jokes.

You can't give me an answer, can you?

Don't feel bad. Nobody can.

We only waited a couple of days after news broke of Tiger Woods' affair before we started making jokes about him changing his name to Cheetah. Despite the short time period between the incident and the jokes, I doubt you will find anybody who won't laugh at those kind of jokes.

However, there does seem to be a sort of double standard when it comes to more tragic events, such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks. That was almost a decade ago, yet I'm sure that a person would be endlessly berated if they were to make a joke about the number of New Yorkers who took advantage of American Airlines' convenient deal, in which the airline promised to "fly you straight from the airport to your office."

Another example of this double standard involves the assassination of JFK. While it occurred more than 45 years ago, there are probably still people out there – some members of my family included – that would slap me across the mouth for suggesting that Kennedy was probably sorry he forked over the extra cash for that convertible, or that Jacqueline Kennedy was probably more upset that she couldn't return the car because she was unable to get all the brain out of the leather.

I know you must think I'm just an awful person. By today's societal standards, I guess I am.

However, as I said, there is not a concrete period of time that one has to wait before making jokes about a tragic incident. So, if you would simply answer the following question, I would gladly dub myself a monster that is going straight to hell.

How soon is too soon?