I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY; and those raised in New York City proper comprised of the five boroughs: Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island have always referred to Manhattan as “the city” even though it’s the smallest of the five boroughs. Ground zero of the terrorist attacks on September 1, 2001 began at the two World Trade Center buildings in Manhattan. As there was a period when my sister worked in “the city” and though my father had already retired from 35 years of employment at the Holland Tunnel, I called the homestead to learn whether either my father or sister might’ve travel into “the city” that fateful day; I was relieved that they hadn’t.

Then we learned that a third plane was flown into the Pentagon in Washington, DC and that passengers decided to prevent hijackers from flying a fourth plane into the Capitol building also in Washington, DC which crashed elsewhere. Twenty years of war in Afghanistan followed. I esteem our Soldiers. My father and uncles served in World War 2, and my 1st cousins (one from the paternal side and one from the maternal side of my family) suffer severe effects from the War in Vietnam. Again, I esteem our Soldiers. Therefore, my own Combined Prayers For the United States Of America includes various governing bodies including the U.S. Armed Forces and the Soldiers thereof: Active, Deployed, Veterans and Special Ops forces.1

Peace . . . Harriet

1 Croskey, H.G. (2023). Sowing The Seed Of Prayer: A compilation of Personal Prayers. (pp. 15-20). U.S.A: Coppell, TX. Kindle Direct Publishing