Where Is Our Outrage? When Concern Must Become Action
Testimony Thursday with DJ Penny™ • END Silence™
We can spend hours arguing over a celebrity’s behavior, a political insult, or something a stranger posted online. We organize around entertainment, defend our favorite personalities, and make sure our opinions are heard.
But when children are abused, women are threatened, animals are tortured, or even the dead are denied dignity, where is that same determination?
Where are we when someone needs protection more than another public statement? Why aren’t we gathering? Why aren’t we protesting? Why aren’t we demanding investigations and following up until we receive answers?
Why aren’t we angry enough to do something?
That is the question behind this week’s DJ Penny™ video, “Where Is Our Outrage?” Thirty seconds can ask it. Here, we need to sit with what answering it requires.
Have We Become Accustomed to the Unacceptable?
Some things should never become ordinary.
A child disclosing abuse should never be treated as an inconvenience. A woman describing threats should never have to compete with concern for the accused person’s reputation. An animal’s suffering should never be dismissed as entertainment. The dignity of someone who has died should never depend on whether anyone remains to defend them.
When a politician, community leader, employer, or trusted institution faces credible allegations of wrongdoing, loyalty should never become an excuse to obstruct scrutiny.
Yet repeated exposure to suffering can make looking away feel routine. Another disturbing headline. Another allegation. Another promise that someone is handling it.
We scroll. We shake our heads. We move on.
The person being harmed does not get to move on simply because the rest of us have reached the next video.
Being Overwhelmed Is Real. So Is Our Responsibility.
This question deserves honesty, including compassion for people who are exhausted.
Some survivors are already using everything they have to get through the day. Some people are caring for children, living with illness, or trying to leave dangerous situations. Public participation may carry risks that others cannot see.
A person’s visible anger is not a reliable measure of how much they care. Neither is their ability to attend a protest.
But those realities should lead us to share responsibility more thoughtfully. Those with greater safety, resources, access, or influence have opportunities to shoulder more of the work.
If you cannot stand in a public square, perhaps you can write a letter. If you cannot give money, perhaps you can offer a skill. If you cannot speak publicly, perhaps you can help someone find support privately.
The question is personal: What can I do with the capacity I have?
Accountability Must Reach Beyond “Our Side”
It is easy to demand accountability from people we already oppose.
The harder test comes when scrutiny reaches someone we admire: a politician we supported, a ministry we trusted, a relative we love, or an organization whose work matters to us.
That is where our principles become visible.
Protecting children cannot depend on party affiliation. Taking a survivor seriously cannot depend on whether their disclosure threatens someone important to us. A person’s achievements do not settle questions about their conduct.
Taking an allegation seriously means listening carefully and supporting a fair examination of the evidence. It means refusing to intimidate the person reporting harm or interfere with an investigation. It also means being truthful about what is established, what is alleged, and what remains unknown.
Our demand should be strong enough to insist on investigation and honest enough to follow the evidence.
What Does Scripture Say About Anger?
“Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:”— Ephesians 4:26, KJV
Scripture acknowledges anger and places responsibility beside it.
That matters when we encounter cruelty. We do not have to pretend abuse is merely disappointing. We can be deeply disturbed by wrongdoing and determined to confront it.
But anger also asks something of us. Will we use it to protect someone, or simply to wound someone else? Will we speak truthfully? Will we stay engaged when the emotional intensity fades?
In Mark 3:5, Jesus looks around with anger, grieved by the hardness of people’s hearts, before healing a man’s hand. That passage gives us something serious to consider: grief over hardened hearts and action that restores a person’s well-being.
For END Silence™, Jesus is the foundation. We ask Him to keep our hearts responsive to suffering and our actions faithful to the people who need help.
Prayer can prepare us to act with courage, patience, and wisdom. Then we have to take the step in front of us.
What Are We Asking People to Do?
A demand for accountability becomes useful when it becomes specific.
Ask clear questions. What has been reported? Who is responsible for reviewing it? What protections are available to the people affected? What information can appropriately be made public?
Follow up. A reassuring statement is a beginning. Ask what action followed it. Keep records of your correspondence and return to unanswered questions.
Gather peacefully. Attend public meetings. Participate in organized demonstrations. Work with people who can identify a concrete request and a practical next step.
Support the people carrying the consequences. Survivors may need someone who listens without interrogation, respects their privacy, helps them locate services, or accompanies them through an intimidating process.
Handle information responsibly. Verify material before sharing it. Protect children’s identities and survivors’ private details. Preserve relevant information for appropriate reporting rather than turning someone’s suffering into public spectacle.
Stay involved. Protection often requires patient work after a story stops attracting attention.
Each of these actions asks more of us than expressing outrage. Each gives that outrage a purpose.
Speaking Up Must Make Room for the Person Harmed
“Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.”— Proverbs 31:8, KJV
In this verse, “dumb” refers to those unable to speak. It calls us to speak on behalf of people who cannot effectively plead their own cause.
We should also remember that many survivors have spoken. They have described what happened, asked for help, and explained what they need.
Our responsibility includes making room for their voices. Advocacy should respect their choices and dignity. A survivor does not owe the public every detail of their trauma to deserve care.
Before sharing someone’s story, ask whether you have permission. Before offering help, ask what would be useful. Before assuming silence means indifference, consider whether someone has learned that speaking carries a cost.
We can challenge public apathy while remaining gentle with the people who have already been harmed.
Who Else Has to Suffer?
We cannot promise that one protest, one petition, or one conversation will resolve every injustice.
We can decide that a child’s safety deserves our attention. We can insist that power comes with responsibility. We can support a survivor without requiring them to become a public symbol. We can refuse to excuse cruelty because confronting it is uncomfortable.
And we can begin before tragedy reaches our own household.
Who else has to suffer before our concern becomes action?
At END Silence™, our mission is to protect children, help survivors, and confront the silence that allows harm to continue. There is work to do—and there is room for you to take part.
🧵 Put Your Concern Into Action
✍️ Sign and share our petition: Add your voice and invite others to stand with us at Change.org/ENDSilence.
🌐 Learn about our mission: Visit EndSilence.net to learn about End Silence, Inc., our faith-centered 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
💙 Support the work: Help sustain our advocacy, education, and survivor-focused work at EndSilence.net/donate.
🤝 Contribute your time or skills: Contact support@EndSilence.net about ways to get involved.
📣 Show up locally: Contact your representatives, attend public meetings, and ask specific questions about protecting vulnerable people.
🔁 Share the message: Share this post and the DJ Penny™ video. Invite someone to choose one concrete action with you.
What is one action you can take this week? Share your commitment in the comments while protecting the privacy of children and survivors.
Every Piece Has Purpose.Together — We can! Change Everything!
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Let's make the final question concrete: what is one step you are willing to take before this week ends? A letter, a meeting, a shared resource, or something else?
Standing beside someone can begin with asking what would help. What kind of practical support should communities become better at offering?
We can care deeply and still become overwhelmed. How could a group share the work so the same few people are not carrying every task?
Public statements need follow-through. What specific questions would you want to ask an institution that says it is addressing reports of harm?
The line about a child becoming a headline raises a hard question: how can our communities make prevention a priority before a tragedy attracts attention?