I attended a preseason football game at Gillette Stadium on September 3 — the Pats and the Giants. I was inspired by the halftime event where members of the Massachusetts National Guard took their Oath of re-enlistment on the field. All of these brave men and women have already served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and were volunteering to return. They didn’t forget.

I was proud and stood to clap. Sadly, I looked around and noticed very few fans were even paying attention.

John Guilfoil Jr. (left) the father of Blast's editor, is a career fire fighter who was in New York after 9/11 as part of the rescue efforts

Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless To USA” was playing and no one seemed moved.

I know it was just a preseason game and all, but I felt a little ashamed. These young men and women were reenlisting to go back into harms’ way to combat terrorism and no one seemed to care.

September 11, 2001 seems a long way off eight years later.

There are so few tributes anymore. People seem to want to forget. Blast keeps the tribute alive every year. Take a moment and look at the article and pictures.

I am a firefighter in Connecticut. I went to New York that evening — to ground zero to help. The sights, sounds and smells of that day are etched in my mind. I will never forget the determination of the firefighters, police officers, the iron-workers and construction workers on the “pile.” All just hoping to rescue someone.

September 11, 2001

Lest We Forget

The events of September 11, 2001

Lest We Forget

The Firefighters and Police Officers who lost their lives in New York

Lest We Forget

The Innocent workers at the Twin Towers and the Pentagon killed that day

Lest We Forget

The people killed in the planes in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania

Lest We Forget

The families left behind

Lest We Forget

The terrorists responsible

Lest We Forget

Why our troops are in harms way

Lest We Forget

Those same rescuers, some who spent months at ground zero, are now sick from breathing the smoke and dust. These same people being denied health and workers compensation claims. I ask President Obama and our elected officials to be mindful. What are you going to do about these injustices?

Lest We Forget

Our men and women serving the military

Lest We Forget

FREEDOM

LET’S NOT FORGET.

Certainly I have some personal stake in the health and safety of the 9/11 emergency responders.

But so does everyone else. 9/11 was a day where we saw the worst of people and the best of people. In the backs of the minds of cops and firemen, they knew the stuff they were breathing in was bad for them, but — as always — they focused on the immediate health of others versus their own long-term wellbeing.

The facts have been the same for ages: police officers, firefighters and soldiers don’t live as long as civilians. Their jobs often put them in immediate danger, expose them to toxins and leave them with increased rates of hypertension, depression, divorce, and alcoholism. But that’s the way it is.

These people are part of a close, often insular fraternity. Their families are in the same league, often socializing almost exclusively with each other. Their children, like me, live their lives holding in a mixture half awe and half terror, because we know what can happen, and all too often we’ve seen it.

Many of the 9/11 emergency responders and rescue workers are sick and dying from the toxic air around Ground Zero in New York. This is irrefutable.

Look through my dad’s photos. It was a cloud with a smell he’ll never forget. It’s death, fire and asbestos.

For someone who’s seen murder, suicide, drug overdose and burn victims, this sticks with him.

Think you could stomach that?

Or rather, breathe it in?

Detective Zadroga’s death was the first to be officially linked to the toxins at Ground Zero.

There were others before him, and many officials have said he won’t be the last.

As reported by Fox News last year, the organizer of an event supporting 9/11 rescue workers, Les Jamieson had this to say:

“We’re not just talking about health here,” he said. “There are serious financial and psychological issues as well, and a lot of people are being left out in the cold.”

That sums it up.

Last year the Associated Press reported nearly 70 percent of Ground Zero rescue workers have suffered lung ailments and “abnormalities.”

“There should no longer be any doubt about the health effects of the World Trade Center. Our patients are sick,” Dr. Robin Herbert, co-director of the group that investigated the long-term effects from exposure to Ground Zero told the AP last year.

Most of the rescuers wade through physical health problems. Others quietly suffer from depression, anger and post traumatic stress.

Detective James Zadroga died last year. The death of the decorated NYPD officer was the first 9/11 rescuer to be directly linked to exposure to the ground zero toxins.

He was 34.

There will be more.