Good evening friends.

What a wondrous weekend.  Sometimes on Sunday evenings I get reflective, nostalgic and introspective. The old “taking stock of my life” kind of thing.

I have shared this before so forgive me if it sounds repetitive.  As i have told you my father died at 45 years old with 6 kids on February 3rd, 1984.  With our family friend Michael recently passing away a month ago, and our friend “D” who is currently in critical condition as Jessica wrote about the other night, it makes us a pause and take a look around as to whats important and what is immaterial.  I think of two things my father said to me right before he died.  One of them I don’t agree with and one of them I’m in the middle with him.

The first thing he said was; “Money is Not everything, Its the Only thing.” — He was dead freaking wrong on that, could not have been more wrong.  The second thing he said was if people mess with your loved ones or things dear to you, fight to death.  Get a bat and break every bone in their body.  I’m not saying he was right on that one, but I’m not saying he was wrong either.

My summation of our father Barry Smith’s death, our friend Michael’s recent death, and a very scary situation with our friend “D” right now, is it puts all the minutia and bull_hit into perspective.

And with that, I am suggesting to not waste one minute on what people think about you or don’t think about you. Think about the active people in your present life that matter. All these other people that we longed for approval to feel like a whole person fade away like the nothing they are when we are faced with the end.

Here’s Dr. Harp Seal’s prescription.  Don’t wait for the end to realize you need nobody’s approval to feel like a whole person.  Every individual on this planet has his own right to feel like a whole person with only his approval alone. We are self licensing for self worth. Why would we give that license to somebody else as to determine our self worth ?  2 + 2 = 4, right ?  When we give other people the right to determine our self worth, its like saying 2 + 2 = 5, which it doesn’t.  That makes no mathematical sense. And neither does giving someone else the right to determine our self worth, its mathematically incorrect.

Through all the smoke and mirrors and the nonsense people speak of, I remain vigil and focused. I just want to be with my wife, my 5 dogs, and our ELS family.  My bigger goal as i have said many times is to walk around the beach in Puerto Rico handing out frozen Snickers for free talking to complete strangers, about light, dumb and breezy stuff, the dumber the better.

My center is determined by me. I don’t care what the currents and the winds are, I hold my ground. Life can be very tough, but to comprise what we love is not life, its prison.

And lastly friends, with everything that has gone on in this community and all the different characters we have played, to Sammy & Family, the Dr. Harp Seal character will be the one the stands the test of time.  Dr. Harp Seal is a timeless symbol for animal kindness, animal equality, animal rescue and animal welfare. I promise all our animal loving friends from around the world, despite some people’s confusion with the Dr. Harp Seal character, this is the character that will set the bar for animal kindness across the world.  It may be hard to see now, but Dr. Harp Seal will be a foundation for generations to come to understand we are all one. That will become the mainstream thinking one day, I promise everyone in the world that.

“The Path to a better world flows through the humane treatment of all animals” — Dr. Harp seal.

Signing off from Puerto Rico, Dr. Harp Seal for Sammy & Family.