Thanks for your comments regarding the systemic quality of Lorenzo's Oil.
Actually, another real life drama is unfolding as we converse with one
another. I heard on the morning news that a woman whose child was
diagnosed autistic by several practitioners refused to accept the
fatalistic "this is it....get on with your life" message similar to the
one given to Lorenzo's parents (Nick Nolte and Susan Sarandon as the
actors) in the film. This woman (the mother of the "alleged" autisitc
child) continued computer searches of relevant literature and conferences
addressing the symptoms of her son. She located (through her own search)
a very treatable condition that could possibly be at the root cause of her
son's condition. Sure enough....she was right on; the son is being
treated successfully for the condition. What this says to me is that not
only is the world opening up to greater exploration and creativity among
us, but that the elitism in our specialized (hear fragmented) society is
costing us in human and financial and natural resources. It is costing us
"big time!!!" When we fragment, we tend not to look far enough for
optional responses to questions. We tend not to live in the question as
much as we should. And, when we have researchers not look into the
question....that does give one pause, no?
So, Lornezo's Oil is being played out regularly these days....and for me
it couldn't be happening enough. I work in health care and see these
kinds of situations more often than I care to even think about! (But,
think about it I do....and try very hard to "glitch hunt, not witch hunt"
all the time....and try to model that paradigm in everything I do.) Have a
good day....and thanks for your comments.............
Dr.M. J. Casebolt
Quality Improvement Consultant
Division of Care and Treatment Facilities
1 W. Wilson St. #550
Madison, Wisconsin 53707-7851
(608) 267-3783 - phone
(608) 266-2579 - fax
MYRNA@WP.DHSS.STATE.WI.US - e-mail
Bonnie Morihara wrote in LO342
> For those who have not seen it, or for relative newcomers to the >
disciplines of systems thinking, I recommend the movie MINDWALK,
which > should be available at your local video rental store.
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I think that MINDWALK video is an excellent one for introducing people o
systems thinking. It is especially designed to illustrate basic systems
thinking concepts.
At the School of Engineering Management of UCT (University of Cape
Town) we show this movie to our postgraduate students during their
start-up period to create an awareness about the systems perspective.
Apart from MINDWALK there is also another movie that we find very
useful. It is called Lorenzo's Oil. I am not very sure whether the director
was fully aware of the systemic content that he was putting in, or this
content is an unplanned emergent property of this movie but I will
stongly suggest to any systems thinker to see it (except it may not be
suitable to sensitive people because of its depressive context).
The models that the main character (Nick Nolte) is using and the self
driven learning process that he goes through (I wish nobody will ever
have has such terrible motivation for learning) illustrates very well the
kind of learning that we are trying to achieve here.
As far as I remember it is real life story and this makes the movie even
more relevant.
I would like to hear your comments.
Alp Baysal
School of Engineering Management
University of Cape Town e-mail : alp@cerecam.uct.ac.za tel : 27-21-650
26 00 fax : 27-21-689 27 37
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