Opinion: Ready for a challenge?

Commentary by Jeff Worrell 

Outrage comes cheap these days. It’s everywhere — flashing across screens, shouted from podiums, tangled in the comment sections. And let’s be honest, there’s something satisfying about it. Outrage makes us feel righteous. It rallies, it fuels movements, it refuses to let wrongdoing slide by unnoticed.

But outrage alone doesn’t build. It scorches the ground and calls it progress. It hardens divisions and turns conversations into battlefields. In the end, it demands very little of us — just anger, just reaction, just the next heated exchange before we move on to the next fight.

Civility is the real challenge. It asks more of us. It insists we listen when we’d rather shout. It requires patience when fury comes so effortlessly. Civility isn’t about being polite for politeness’ sake. It’s about recognizing that outrage without respect is empty. Genuine change doesn’t come from tearing people down, but from finding ways to stand together, even in disagreement.

So yes, outrage has its place — it alerts us to injustice. But it’s civility that allows us to fix it.

If we hope to move forward, we must embrace the harder path — one that values dignity over division, sees respect as a strength and acknowledges that true progress begins when we recognize the humanity in those we oppose.