Tom Giffey: If we could just put metaphors aside

Commentary

The term "political earthquake" was used in recent weeks to describe news coming from the Wisconsin State Capitol.

Then a real earthquake occurred, and we were reminded what true devastation is.

People in Madison and across the state have reacted, in many cases angrily, to Gov. Scott Walker's successful bid to strip most public-sector workers of most of their collective bargaining rights.

Public employees and their allies have been upset about the losses -- both financial and at the bargaining table -- they will experience as a result.

Then, when we hear the news from Japan, we are reminded what loss really can be.

The flight of 14 Democratic senators from Wisconsin, the contentious legislative sessions and the occupation of the Capitol by protesters have been described as a political meltdown.

But now the world is shocked to witness the nightmarish possibility of a real meltdown: an out-of-control temperature spike in a nuclear reactor causing fuel rods to melt and deadly radiation to be released.

Finally, Walker himself (in a surreptitiously recorded phone conversation) described his policy as dropping "the bomb." Critics slammed him repeatedly for his "war" on public employees.

And someone even sent death threats to Republican lawmakers -- a despicable step that took violent rhetoric to a dangerous extreme.

Meanwhile, in nations around the globe, real wars rage, and real bombs fall.

Highlighting the contrast between real wars and earthquakes and their metaphoric equivalents shouldn't diminish the fact that Wisconsinites are struggling.

However, all of us must remember that, even in difficult times, things could be much worse.

And the more we talk of catastrophe in our own lives, the more we style ourselves as victims, the more difficult it is to put events in perspective.

Then reality slaps us in the face.

Tom Giffey is editorial page editor of the Leader-Telegram of Eau Claire, Wis. This article was distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.