Being the paper for such an outstanding school, the Stampede normally has the privilege to report all of the amazing things that members of this student body accomplish.

However, sometimes it is necessary to discuss more difficult topics. Sometimes life has tough stuff, such as school shootings.

Thankfully, the Stampede staff does not shoulder the burden of dealing with these topics alone. Luckily, we have the CMR drama department who March 10-12 produced “American Roulette,” a show directly dealing with a school shooting and its aftermath.

This wasn’t a show that was necessarily fun to watch. But that doesn’t mean that it should not have been watched. School shootings need to be discussed. They aren’t fun, but they need to be discussed.

Pushing the issue away and pretending it doesn’t exist doesn’t make it go away, nor does it make it less prevalent.

Furthermore, shows such as “American Roulette” don’t make school shootings more likely to happen. They don’t encourage such heinous acts. But they do force us to take a hard look at our own actions and examine what about them could drive anyone to the point where they would take their lives and the lives of those around them.

It is also important to note that during the “talk back” session after the show (a session added specifically due to the content of the play in which audiences could discuss the play with director and writer Chris Evans, as well as with the cast); none of the remaining audience members had anything negative to say about the content. In fact, they praised the cast for tackling such difficult subject matter, and dealing with it in the way that they did.

Furthermore, both before and after the show, Evans stressed the fact that the play was not encouraging or endorsing such violence, instead wanting to bring attention to the issue.

The more the causes of school shootings are discussed, the less likely it will be that one will happen. For that reason alone, any form of media that raises awareness about the issue should be applauded.