Weapons of Mass Appreciation: You Don’t Have to Live Through a Terrorist Attack to Learn from One
Program Titles
- Sharing his experience as a 9/11 Pentagon survivor
- Memorial – Pentagon: for the 184 lives lost on 9/11/01
- Walk In Each Other’s Shoes: Understanding that the shoes you wear won’t educate you
Dan Holdridge: On September 11, 2001, Dan’s life almost ended when he was injured in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon. All of us remember where we were on September 11, 2001, when our Nation’s worst terrorist attack occurred. When the Pentagon was attacked on 9/11, 184 heroes—some as little as 10 feet away from Dan—were killed.
Dan survived. Yet, as Dan says, “You don’t have to live through a terrorist attack to learn from one.” His message about “Weapons of Mass Appreciation” is not about the Pentagon attack but the lessons learned from that experience.
Feeling handpicked by God, Dan’s mission honors the 184 by speaking to and challenging audiences to understand the value of life through gratitude, respect, and appreciation of others.
His story of survival and faith is a phenomenal one.
Recovered physically, Dan dedicates his time to 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.
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.
Dan believes the way to end terrorism in our world is to understand differences between cultures, respect them, eliminate feelings of entitlement, and honor the heroes who serve.
Weapons of Mass Appreciation: You Dont Have to Live Through a
Terrorist Attack to Learn from One
In the wake of 9/11, many individuals continue to live day-to-day, allowing their identity to be defined by the market, society, and others without any personal reflection as to Why they are here.
By allowing external forces and pressures to define us, we fail to find who we are.
Sharing his experience as a 9/11 Pentagon survivor, Dan Holdridge shows how the Purpose Conduit draws on the incredible power of appreciation, aligning our identity with those we serve and helping us manifest our purpose.
Each of us has only a certain amount of time to make a positive contribution to the lives of others. Each of us has a unique identity, separate from the one defined by the world.
Appreciating others helps us recognize our greatness. The less entitled we become, the more satisfaction we gain.
For 90 minutes after the terrorist attack on 9/11 on the Pentagon, Dan’s family did not know whether he survived. For those 90 minutes, they contemplated Dan with words not spoken, thoughts not shared, and actions not taken.
Through this National tragedy, we all took time to reflect on the frailty of life and its effects on those important to us. In our families and our businesses, we frequently defer critical actions until tomorrow because we overestimate the time we have and the power of that time.
A little-known story that captures a special event in remembrance of the September 11 tragedy – September 11th reminds me that I will always be a part of the building that experienced so much tragedy on one day and enabled us all to appreciate what we have in our lives.
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