I have a friend with many gifts – looks, love, talent – and he believes the world is collapsing and his work is dark and dour. My friend George Forss, who faced some awful challenges in his life sees magic and beauty everywhere, his work is an affirmation of majesty, light and the human spirit.

Last week I was visiting George in his darkroom and he showed me this photograph he is putting in his new book “The Way We Were.” I asked him what it was. George said this was the front gate of a Staten Island orphanage where he lived for a number of years. He went back to New York to look for the orphanage and it was gone, only the gate and a few graves of the sisters were still there. He took this photo of it, George never complains or speaks poorly of his life but he rarely speaks of the orphanages where he was raised, and I know from Donna that George had polio and his afflictions from the disease caused him to be teased and harassed relentlessly.

George never told me this, but when I said I loved the photo he said he would give it to me. I said I would pay for it, but he refused. He brought it to lunch today, and it moves me deeply, it is such a personal and generous and heartfelt gift. George may have had a hard life but he heart and soul only grew. Genius will survive against the greatest odds. You can check out some of his thoughts and writing here.

I am so grateful for this gift, it is a treasure, I will ask him to frame it for me and I will pay him for that work. It will inspire me every day to grasp the magic and beauty of life, despite all of the world’s sorrows.  Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We can not cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.

This is the meaning of George Forss and his life and genius.