There is a front line and a back end to every successful war effort. Rosie the Riveter was an icon during World War II and she was symbolic of the strong American woman who took command of the US economy and war manufacturing; without her there would have been no Allied victory.

We are once again embroiled in a bitter war and just like those times in the 1940s, the time of ending is uncertain. There is one thing that is different-women are involved in both the front lines and the back end and this can only be a good thing for America.

Regardless of which side of the political fence you stand upon in regards to the current war-you cannot disregard the sacrifices made by soldiers and the loved ones who bear the burden of their absence and, God forbid, their loss. But we must ask ourselves what is all of this sacrifice for?

There are many possible answers to this but here is what I think-the purpose of life is to constantly renew itself. This hypothesis is evidenced by the cycles of nature that occur around each of us every minute of every day we live. If this assumption is correct then it is our children and our children's children that are the vehicle of human renewal and are therefore the objects of our protection.

If it were gold we were protecting then the keepers of the gold would be the most valuable asset we would have-the ones who secured the bars with guns, who weighed each gram to the ounce, and who kept accurate figures that tallied the sum value of the entire gold reserve.

If it were gasoline we were protecting then the attendants who stand watch with squeegee in hand at the pumps would be our guardians of the cycle of the future of humanity.

But that's not the case because if children are the ultimate objects of value that we are protecting with the life's blood of our young men and women then it is the guardian of children who are our most valuable asset.

Now, if gasoline or gold bars were the object of ultimate importance, then which guardian would you choose: the one who just stood by with a weapon and ignored the gold or let the pump rust? Likewise, which guardian of our precious little resources of the future would you prefer: the one who passes out lunch money with no care of what nutritional value the child receives and who moves the child's head out of the way of the television set when they are begging for attention or the guardian who worships their child and treats them like a living project that can only compound in value over time with the attention paid to them today?

Obviously the doting mother is the preferred guardian for our little golden bib spoilers but what is it about the scrapbooking moms that separate them from the rest of the crowd? It is the action of taking their feelings, their memories, their love, their skills and their talents and creating something that truly turns common memories into works of art-keepsakes that can be handed down for generations.

This love for family, for community, for social order and the righteous zeal for living a good and happy life is what puts the bomp in the bomp shh bomp shh bomp. The scissor wielding, glue stick stamping divas are the colonels of the home front battles that take place every morning between thrown Cheerios and every evening between "one more drink of water" stalling techniques before bedtime.

We spend so much time protecting our children that we rarely give credit where it's due-to the guardians of those children-the ones who teach them to wipe their little bottoms and hold them when they are shrieking from 3 A.M. nightmares. Billie Holiday once sang, "God bless the child who can hold his own." I say we should also give praise and thanks to the monolithic mothers who stand guard over these children and, luck and heavy preparation provided, teach them to hold their own.

Joshua Minton is a father and husband as well as a writer. He is co-developer, along with his wife, of the Video Scrapbook Diva DVD system which teaches mothers and fathers how to take their family films, transfer them to the PC and turn them into fantastic movies that can be shared with family and loved ones.

Josh has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Bowling Green State University. He has won several awards for his poetry and fiction, including the BGSU Alumni Book Award and was included in the 1999 edition of Who's Who in College America.

Josh's professional background is in the health insurance industry where he has spent the last two years serving as Executive Business Analyst for the Executive Director of the nation's largest health insurer. He currently serves as President of Family Bliss Enterprise, Inc. (http://www.familyblissenterprises.com) and is webmaster of http://www.joshuaminton.com where you can view samples of his essays, poetry, fiction and much more.

You can contact Josh at josh@joshuaminton.com