Dear Megan,
I’m going to tell you about GroupGenie.Org because you’re my best friend. Also, because I don’t want you to end up like your older sister. You’re as pretty as Kate, or prettier. You know that the boys are already looking at you. And we know what boys want. But look, Kate is messing up her life with the cigarettes and the pot, and the partying, and fooling around. What bothers me most is that she is just living for the moment. She has no thoughts about the future. The present is too entertaining and distracting. There’s so many boys and toys and things that she’s lost. You told me you hear her crying sometimes. No need to figure out why. Your dad’s moved out of the house. Your mom is too busy to keep her in line.
The website is full of good things, and one of them is about a way to have ongoing support. Support helps anchor you. Support helps you keep moving forward toward your dreams in life. You want to be a fashion designer, right? Well, we can use something on the website to support each other. It’s called a Buddy System. I’ll tell you more about it later, but basically we set little goals and check in with each other – regularly. Every four months, we look back and celebrate what we’ve done. Then we set more goals for the next four months.
I’ll be honest. You’re already talking more about boys and about buying clothes and looking good for them, and less about your dreams. And the last two times that I asked you to go with me to plant trees, you said that you were too busy. But I remember when you almost cried when Mr. Roberts told us that one half of the world’s rainforests were gone. He told us about the oceans and the air too, and said that it would be up to our generation to turn things around.
These problems haven’t gone away. Look at your sister again. She’s no longer capable of caring about the future. She’s too caught up. You know a lot of people from our age on up are already tuned out. They are just watching DVDs (Bill), playing video games, (Adam and Peter) or struggling to pay all their bills, (Your mom, Kate already, and all those people with big credit card debts.)
I want you to do the Buddy System with me. It’s not just about work. It’s about balance. Life should be fun, too. But there are things we need to do to help fix the world.
Now let me tell you about the website. It’s full of treasures. My dad actually introduced me it to me for my 13th birthday. He picks out things for me to read, or exercises for me to do. Or I pick them myself. Then we talk about them. We’ve been doing this for a month and a half.
At first I didn’t like the Group Genie website. As you will see it’s doesn’t have many interesting visuals. It’s pretty plain. It was overwhelming with all the materials. But you don’t have to read it all. Some of it is over my head, but there are a lot of things that teens can understand. That’s why my father’s guidance was so important. He helps explain things that I don’t get. The website has fiction stories that help you understand the deep stuff. It’s a multi-purpose program. One purpose is to help fix the world. Another use is to help each of us have a happy and fulfilled life.
Once you read enough and think about it, you realize the website is totally amazing. Almost no adults believe that the world can be fixed without a major miracle. But they have a plan for fixing the world. My dad thinks it can work. It takes a long time to understand the plan because it’s not just based on one big idea, but on about seven big ideas that work together. The biggest idea is called superprograms. Superprograms may get as big as the Internet. Superprograms can accelerate human learning. They help people reach their goals, too. And they help people solve problems.
Here’s what I predict will happen. You and I will use the website, and we will get happier. We will learn new skills. Smarter, more interesting boys will be even MORE attracted to you, because you’ll be happier, because you will be walking toward a great future. Then your sister whose life will get steadily worse will suddenly notice that you have your act together, totally. Then you will introduce her to Group Genie and the CLEAR superprogram, and we can support her. You’ll also tell your favorite boy about Group Genie, and support him. Or maybe you’ll have six boyfriends, 🙂 and you’ll tell each of them about it, and help all of them.
And then it will keep spreading around the world. And we will turn around the big mess, and have kids, and everything will be mostly wonderful.
After you read enough of the intro and the basic program, start with the stories. There are some funny, weird and neat stories. Then we can talk about them. Most of the stories have a meaning that makes them useful, not just entertaining.
Love,
Lauren