I know this probably won't be a very popular opinion, but I feel like it needs to be said. Every time some major tragedy happens either in our county, or around the world, the first thing people do is think of ways to make it humorous.

See Also: The Day My Brother With Down Syndrome Became A Viral Meme

Let's be clear: there's a difference between trying to lighten up a bleak situation and making light of a tragedy. If you use respectful humor to brighten people's days, there's not issue there. However, in my opinion, there is no respectful way to make light of a tragedy.

The important thing to remember when these things happen is to ask yourself who is most impacted by this, and if you were a member of that group, how would you feel to see people making fun of your situation?

For example, in the past two weeks I have seen tons of memes about both the bombing of Syria and the United Airlines beating incident. One of which destroyed many lives, and the other saw a man get bludgeoned without good reason.

What part of this do you think is funny? The part where hundreds of people die, or the part where a man is beaten for refusing to give up his seat? Because I can tell you that if I were a friend or family member of someone negatively impacted by such tragedies, I would be devastated to see constant reminders of these horrific events.

Here, I do feel like I need a disclaimer, though. There's a difference between mocking United Airlines for their poor handling of the situation and mocking a man who was brutally beaten. If you want to poke fun at United in the hopes that this may cause them to reconsider their actions, be my guest. Just make sure that the victims aren't caught in the crossfire.

This issue of mocking tragedies is one that I became particularly concerned about after the shooting of the gorilla Harambe. It took all of five minutes after the death of this creature for people to begin treating his death as a spectator event to point and laugh at. However, a friend of mine pointed out to me that the zookeepers involved didn't just lose "some gorilla." They lost an animal they had cared for since infancy, like a pet. How would you feel if the entire country openly mocked the death of your pet?

So yeah, while maybe that meme about a dead gorilla might be funny to you, maybe think for a minute about those you're impacting by making light of tragedies. If you find it difficult to distinguish the line between respectful humor and humor that mocks the dead or injured, maybe stay away from memes for a while. It's for the best.