What is a “battlefield”?

Happy Memorial Day weekend!  That and hearing the song “Love is a Battlefield” reminded me of one of those misconceptions I had as a kid.

I used to always hear about wars fought on battlefields.  So of course, I thought that there were official battlefields — places where soldiers went to fight.  Both sides would go to the battlefield and have at it.  And whoever didn’t get killed would go home.  Now maybe that’s the way wars used to be a long time ago.  Very organized, very polite, while you were trying to kill each other.

It was kind of a rude awakening when I found out that “battlefields”, while sometimes jungles or deserts, were often other people’s towns or streets or farms or whatever.  Imagine people, in a government-sanctioned activity, trying to kill each other right in front of your house!  Living in the United States, we don’t see such a thing, except occasionally, like Pearl Harbor or 9-11.

Of course, the reason we don’t usually have such things going on on our soil is because of the men and women who go to where the wars are and put themselves in danger to defend us and our allies.  And tomorrow, we salute the ones who’ve paid the ultimate price.  So while you’re cooking out tomorrow, breathe a little thanks to those who made it so we don’t have to watch out for soldiers invading our cookouts.

Have a great Memorial Day.