In April 2001, Mr. Dan Holdridge was one of the youngest Program Directors at General Dynamics Corporation in Needham, Massachusetts. Dan oversaw computer engineering operations for General Dynamics and was sent to the United States Pentagon to support the construction of the newly renovated section of the Pentagon.
On September 11th, 2001, Dans life almost ended when he was injured in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon. Recovered physically, Dan dedicates his time speaking to people across the country about his experience that day, what helped him heal and how he became an even stronger person than ever before.
Today, Dan serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Eagle Industries Incorporated (www.EagleElectric.com) where he oversees the entire operation of the electrical engineering and manufacturing corporation.
This includes finance, human resources, project management, business development, customer communications, and continuing quality improvement programs.
Dan graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1995, and earned the Masters Degree of Executive Master of Science in Engineering Management from the University of New Haven.
Dan served as a Trustee of the National 4-H Leadership Trust from April 2002 to 2004 and currently serves as Board Member and Vice Chairman of the New London County 4-H Foundation.
Dan believes the way to end terrorism in our world is to understand differences between cultures and to respect them, eliminate feelings of entitlement, and honor the heroes that serve.
His book, Surviving September 11th, was released on September 11, 2010. Publishing of that book was been delayed slightly, as Michael Hauge, screenwriter for the Oscar winning movie “A Beautiful Mind” (starring Russell Crowe), was been engaged to develop the book with Dan for a power message to all readers.
Dan is a Member of the National Speakers Association
Dan Holdridge’s Manifesto
What am I about? What is Weapons of Mass Appreciation about?
- I believe that in order for people to succeed, we must let go of negativity and be positive in every aspect of our lives.
- I am about living for each moment
- Worrying takes from our passion for life
- Hatred steals positive energy from us
- Living without appreciation leads us to a life of entitlement
- Hard work does pay off
- People with long titles under their name usually need the titles to validate themselves, instead of validating their work just by doing it
- We all search for validation in life; we search for significance meaning
- I believe in inspiring others through my work and my words
- I believe in the potential of people and bringing it out of them
- We are defined usually by what others think of us, say about us, and focus on us
- I believe family values are the most underappreciated staple of society
- I’ve learned that hatred is learned, and is a decision that can be reversed
- I believe that is takes almost losing something or someone to truly appreciate it/them
- I think time is the only thing that we cant buy, no matter how wealthy one may be
- Life is made better by loving more, hating less, giving more, taking less, thanking more, disregard less, forgiving more, holding to anger less
- Age doesn’t determine the maturity of a person, rather the mind of reason and compassion
- Volunteering pays more than any paycheck
- I believe it takes us to step out of our normal routine/lives, to affect meaningful change
- To understand someone, we need to remove ourselves of all prejudices
- Treating someone well, with respect, will gain more financially for a business than any other honest strategy
- Profit is about abundance over necessity it doesn’t have to be determined in dollars, but rather in the difference we made in the lives of others
- Its not the amount of years in our life, but the amount of life within our years. Abraham Lincoln
- Tell someone how you feel today don’t wait until tomorrow, as we don’t know what tomorrow will bring
- Family pets are one of life’s greatest gifts always glad to see you, never a bad word said about anyone, sorry for when they do wrong, and always wanting to please others. Is that a hint about how we should live our lives??
- Everyone should have something and someone to believe in, every day
- Freedom is something people take for granted, until the lose it
Freedom is like religion its something we believe in; we cant see it directly in front of us, but we feel it when it is there, and when we embrace it, we learn to appreciate it after we almost lose it. Its all about having faith and willingness to defend it - It is important to be authentic and genuine in all you do
- I love history, and learning from it
- Struggling through nearly losing my life has taught me more about living, than dying
- My relationship with God has been the strongest foundation in my life
- Letting go and trusting Gods will is one of the greatest gifts I’ve learned
- Hope has value when we need it most
- You find you have great strength you never knew you had, when challenged greatest in life
- Anyway I can, I need to tell people to live everyday as its their very best day
- I have a responsibility to live my life to honor 184 people who didn’t live next to me on 9/11/01
- I miss Americas passion of patriotism from right after 9/11
- Generosity is learned and when given the opportunity, people feel at their best when giving
- Being true to yourself is the greatest gift you can give to yourself
- I love baseball, especially the Boston Red Sox
- The Red Sox run in 2004, being down 3 games to none to the NY Yankees, taught a lot about life. There was never a team in history that came back from that far down in a seven game series and won it all. Consider it being even more impossible against the NY Yankees, which won so many World Series Championships. The chants were to Believe and Keep the Faith which sounded very familiar to religious connotations
- I believe in underdogs who try their best
- We all have 9/11’s in our lives to different degrees. The truth test of character is whether one defines them self by the event, or does one define them self because of how they responded to the event. That’s the stuff that legacies are built upon.
“Please accept our most sincere thanks for your participation in our September 11th tribute at Old Saybrook Senior High School.
The faculty and students were touched by your experience and moved by your presentation. Many of the students were in elementary and middle school at the time and didn’t truly understand the impact of this horrific tragedy.
Your efforts will continue to strengthen their understanding and continue to remind us of how fragile life is. If I could be of any assistance in the future please do not hesitate to contact me.”
~ Scott Schoonmaker
Principal, Old Saybrook High School, Old Saybrook, CT