Food for Thought: Chili and...

I have a tradition that has been going on for nine years now, chili and the 1st weekend of the NFL. Yes, nine years ago, when the world as we know it changed forever...Mom made a big pot of chili for Monday night football, September 10, 2001. Eddie Mac had a career changing injury to his knee and the next morning our country was attacked. I love chili, but I realize now that the tradition has more to do with comfort and security. The comfort and security of how life was before September 11, 2001.

I will never forget that day. The emotions of fear, anger and sadness that I and my friends and co-workers shared together. I remember how everyone, I mean everyone, complete strangers, how people were so polite and selfless. The country had been hit, we all felt it and we all came together...for like a minute. The brotherly love lasted for only a few months and then it was as if September 11 never happened.

I for one have never forgotten what happened. I have never forgotten the innocents that were taken from this earth before their time and the heroes who gave everything they had, selflessly. And to the heroes who are still fighting the enemy, I say thank you.

I really had intended to write about chili and football today, but once I sat down to write, I realized this tradition was about much more. We must never forget...