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CONVERSATION LESSON

AGE IS JUST A NUMBER

Dan: What’s up Aaron?

Aaron: Hey man, how you doing?

Dan: Doing all right.

Aaron: Yeah, that’s good. It’s a little winter wonderland here.

Dan: Oh yeah. It’s cold there?

Aaron: Yeah. It’s cold. Yeah. And we’re getting lots of big fat snow flurries.

Dan: Oh, nice.

Aaron: Yeah. It’s kind of nice.

Dan: Did you get a white Christmas?

Aaron: Not really, no. How about you?

Dan: No. It has hardly snowed at all. It’s actually really sunny today.

Aaron: Wow, can’t complain too much.

Dan: No.

Aaron: Yeah, that’s good.

Dan: We’re talking world records. Old people.

Aaron: That’s right.

Dan: Old people. The person to live. The oldest person to have ever lived. And now just everything’s been thrown upside down.

Aaron: Right.

Dan: What do you do? What are we supposed to do? Who do we look to? The world no longer has an oldest person.

Aaron: Oh, there’s always an oldest person.

Dan: No. That’s done. It’s finished.

Aaron: I don’t think so man.

Dan: It’s all done. Are we going to do?

Aaron: There’s always somebody.

Dan: That’s not the way it works.

Aaron: Actually. Yeah. Actually like every month I think. Or every other month. It seems like the oldest person in the world dies because it says that personDan: They’ll never be the oldest because that was Jeanne Calment.

Aaron: Oh, you’re talking about oldest ever?

Dan: The oldest ever.

Aaron: Oh the oldest ever. Well, it depends on what sources you believe.

Dan: No, she died. She’s gone.

Aaron: I know that but what I’m saying is like there are all kinds of written records of people living into their 140s, 150s. But it can’t be verified because it’s from such a long time ago.

Dan: Well, I mean, people in the Bible I think they lived to like 500.

Aaron: Exactly. So you just never know do you?

Dan: But we’re talking the real deal.

Aaron: Okay.

Dan: Now it’s like. First there’s no Santa Claus.

Aaron: Right.

Dan: Now there’s no oldest person in the world.

Aaron: Right. What are we going to do? What’s this world coming to?

Dan: Jeanne Calment. Well, I mean, I don’t know. I feel like we’ve besmirched her possibly good name.

Aaron: Yeah. We don’tDan: Nobody really knows.

Aaron: Right. Right.

Dan: I mean even this guy this Russian mathematician Zak and the doctor, the Russian doctor, it’s not like they have some cast-iron proof.

Aaron: Right, of course.

Dan: But they do point to a lot of suspicious stuff.

Aaron: Yeah.

Dan: The most fishy the most dubious one is that she had her photos burned.

Aaron: Oh, right.

Dan: Apparently, the archive in her hometown requested some of her old photos and supposedly she had them burned.

Aaron: Yeah. It’s quite possible that given the fact that her gerontologist couldn’t believe what she was physically able to do at the supposed age of 120, or whatever it is. That she was compared to other centenarians. She was just in so much. Her body was so much younger looking.

Dan: Yeah, that wasn’t clear to me. Whether that was her gerontologist or just a gerontologist who had studied her record.

Aaron: Oh, I see.

Dan: And her history.

Aaron: Yeah.

Dan: I don’t think it was her personal doctor.

Aaron: Right.

Dan: But apparently, from the records, he found that she was able to do things.

There’s loads of video. She was very famous when she was alive.

Aaron: Right, right.

Dan: But yeah, I mean, she was able to do all these things. She’s riding a bicycle at 100 years old. Just got all this energy. She’s really quick witted, very active.

She dabbled in all kinds of things. She dabbled in painting and dancing and quite unusual for her age to be so active.

Aaron: Sure. Sure. Absolutely. Well, that’s what being active is one of the key. Well, what some would say is one of the key factors in longevity.

Dan: Yeah.

Aaron: Staying active.

Dan: Yeah, keeping your mind active.

Aaron: Yeah.

Dan: It’s why language learning, I think is such a great thing to do.

Aaron: Absolutely. Absolutely. That guy we did … I think we did a lesson on this a long, long time ago. But Dan Buettner’s, Blue Zones pointed out a number of different factors in a long life. And in addition just to being active, one of them was have a life purpose and what the Japanese call an ikigai.

Dan: That’s right.

Aaron: And yeah, it kind of makes you reflect a little bit. It’s like the … What’s that thing that gets you up in the morning and keeps you going? And obviously she probably had something like that to be so energetic.

Dan: Right.

Aaron: Yeah.

Dan: Or maybe it was just scamming the government for escaping taxes.

Aaron: But wasn’t that at the very beginning of her life? Like when she was a young woman?

Dan: Yeah, probably. I think her … Yeah she must have been. Her defenders actually make a point about that. They say if this is true that means her whole family went along with it and all her friends went along with this ruse and her whole hometown there must have been loads of people who knew her mother and apparently they look different. But that’s one of the things that these Russians point out. Her different height. Their hair color is different. The eye color is different. The facial features are different.

Dan: And apparently her height she was only one inch shorter than her mother’s recorded height. And at that age at 120 you should have lost quite a bit more than an inch apparently. So that they also pointed out as being a little bit strange.

Aaron: Yeah, a little fishy. Well speaking of strange, I thought it was interesting this guy who … I can’t remember.

Dan: Emelie.

Aaron: Yeah that’s right Emelie, he feels that age is something that we should be able to identify with whatever age we want to.

Dan: Yeah. It’s just a number. Why should that pigeonhole you?

Aaron: Right. But in end, his case like he I think he wanted to actually legally, right, identify.

Dan: I mean, that’s the part where it gets silly. He said okay why? If you feel young then just act young and be young. He said, no. I’m trying to do this online dating and nobody wants to date an old man. And I wonder is it true that nobody wants to date an old man or is it true that he was just interested in younger women and they don’t want to date an old man.

Aaron: Yes, that’s probably true.

Dan: I’m sure there’s probably plenty of 69-year-old women that … he’s a good looking guy and very charismatic and I think he’s like a self-help guru. So I’m sure he would have no problem finding women his own age. I wonder if it’s just that he’s looking at … So it just seems silly that he says I don’t want to lie. I want to put my real age. Like it doesn’t matter if the court says that. It’s still not what normal people define as your age.

Aaron: Right. Well okay but with his argument, what he’s arguing is that transgender people for example can legally change their gender. Even though others might recognize them as being male, if they identify with being female and they take the necessary drugs and procedures to actually physically change their gender, that he should be able to change his age.

Dan: Yeah, but I guess there are some legal ramifications. So that if you say you’re born woman and you identify as a manAaron: Yeah.

Dan: I guess you’re barred from doing some things that only men can do.

Aaron: Right.

Dan: I don’t know what that might be, like maybe serving in combat in the military or using a men’s bathroom or I don’t know…

Aaron: Well, I think there’s already some kind of controversy. I’m sure this has happened in sports where a male changes to a female and then competes as a woman and dominates. I read something recently where there’s an issue - and I can’t remember which sport it was - but there were female athletes speaking out against it; that it wasn’t fair.

Dan: Yeah, I know there are some in combat sports. I don’t know if it’s mixed martial arts or boxing and that. I mean, generally, my feeling is do whatever you want, as long as you’re not hurting somebody.

Aaron: Sure.

Dan: If you want to identify as something that is nontraditional, nothing you’re born with. What do I care? But in that situation, that if you’re a man and you transition to a woman, even if you’re taking all the hormones and you have all the surgery the snip and tuck and reform and change your hormones and change your personality. Even if all those things change your bone density apparently does not change. So you so a man who becomes a woman is still going to have these denser bones. That’s going to give them a real advantage when it comes to combat like boxing or the strength of your wrist.

Dan: I think directly the circumference of your wrist directly has an effect on how much force you can apply when you punch somebody. So, yeah, I think that’s a little tricky.

Aaron: Yeah. When the stakes get high, and when it’s highly competitive, and there’s a lot of investment of time, energy and money. Yes. Where people get upset.

Dan: Yeah. And I think the court has a point. Okay, you want to act young or even you can tell people that you’re young. But if you’re going to ask us to change your records then it’s just going to create all this confusion.

Aaron: Yeah, and then let’s say, taking this a step further, if they were to allow him to do that, they set a precedent and then it becomes a slippery slope. It’s like what other things can we say that we identify with or that we actually do identify with. Does that make it okay to change the law and change the structure of society?

Dan: And right now, there are people that don’t identify as either gender. They don’t identify as man or a woman. And they’re trying to redefine pronouns. And saying that … I mean, there’s a whole list of new alternative pronouns for people who don’t identify with one gender. And one of them is they want to be called they. Sometimes they want to be called there. Sometimes there’s some made up pronouns like zey. And that too, I kind of feel like okay, I’ll call you whatever you want.

Dan: But in Canada, I think there is a big stir or there’s a big row over … I think they passed a law or they were considering passing a law making it mandatory, making it illegal for you to refer to somebody with the wrong pronoun. Like if somebody said I wanted to be referred to as they and you refer to them as he then you’re breaking the law. So that was a big, there’s big controversy I think early 2018 or maybe the end of 2017. I don’t know whatever happened with that law. But I know that there was a lot of people speaking out against it and for it.

And in a way that would never happen in the US because the freedom of speech is so dear to the hearts yes of people in the United States, that, that would be unheard of. That mandate how you refer to somebody.

Aaron: Wow. Illegal language.

Dan: Yeah. But this guy Emelie he makes a point. Well, like actually I’m helping society because I’m going to continue paying into whatever their social security or their pension system instead of drawing from the state, I’ll be giving to the state.

Aaron: Or he really must want to date younger women.

Dan: Yeah. Or he’s just the publicity hound.

Aaron: Yeah that’s probably more likely.

Dan: It makes for a great story and my workshops, myself help workshops could use a little publicity boost.

Aaron: That could be it.

Dan: I mean he’s been all over the news. BBC, all over American media.

Aaron: Yeah, that’s probably it. Well, we’re talking about him. So you think he probably then does not have Peter Pan syndrome at all?

Dan: Or yeah. Is it a midlife crisis? Normally you would say, the guy is way past midlife. But I think sometimes you hear about people talking about a midlife crisis when they’re in their 60s.

Aaron: Well, I can see that especially nowadays, now that long life becoming a centenarian is much more common place that people may mentally sort of adjust the trajectory or what they envision themselves as living in terms of … Like I envision myself living beyond 100, even though I know like factually that I’m statistically more likely to die at the age of 80 or whatever. But I see my life as more living to 100 or beyond, because I want to be healthy. I envision health. I envision a positive future and yeah I’m not even at midlife yet in that case. So I wonder if that has something to do with people’s sort ofDan: Yeah having pushing back when midlife crisis occurs.

Aaron: Sure.

Dan: But what I thought was interesting about Calment, like, let’s imagine that she is the real deal and she did actually live to 122.

Aaron: Yeah.

Dan: If that’s a fact, then a lot of things that we think about longevity don’t appear to be correct. At least there don’t seem to be the, at least in her case weren’t a significant factor. She smoked cigarettes up until two years before she died. It was only two cigarettes a day, but still they say any smoking is bad especially on a consistent basis. Her whole life until 120, she was smoking cigarettes. And she’s eating two pounds of chocolate. I mean maybe a little chocolate is okay. But two pounds, that’s a lot.

Aaron: Yeah, that’s true.

Dan: I mean she was active though. She was riding a bike until she was a 100.

That probably is … And she was doing a lot of hobbies which probably kept her mind active.

Aaron: Yeah. I mean, I feel like a lot of it is just, obviously a lot of luck involved.

But just because…and genetics is huge. And that’s what I was getting to. It’s like, just because, you’re doing some things that have been proven to be not good for your health, that could be offset by genetics, it could be offset by a combination of genetics and a very strong inner energy. A will, if you will, to live, to thrive to have an interest in life that keeps you going, you’re active, you’re positive, you’ve got friends and you’ve got a life purpose and that could override a bit of drinking and smoking and eating sugar or whatever it is.

Dan: Right. So you want to live to a ripe old age of 127?

Aaron: Not necessarily. Not necessarily.

Dan: You might hang it up tomorrow.

Aaron: Yeah. You never know. I mean, I envision myself living a long life. But I don’t know that when I get to that age, whether I would want to continue living alone. A lot depends on the quality of my life. I feel like I have a very good quality of life. I’m very fortunate to have that. And yeah, I’d love for that to continue. I enjoy life. But yeah, things may not be so good in the future. Who knows? So maybe living a long life is not as important as just living a good life.

Dan: A full life.

Aaron: A full life. A meaningful life. So how about you? You’re going to live to be a ripe old prune?

Dan: I guess it would depend on how capable you were in … I think about people who lose the ability to move, mobility and ability to talk and I know that I would want to live if I wasn’t able to communicate or move around.

Aaron: Yeah. That wouldn’t be so fun would it?

Dan: But yeah, I got to stay healthy.

Aaron: Yeah indeed. You making any New Year’s health resolutions?

Dan: No, not a thing.

Aaron: There you go. Yeah, me neither. I’m just going to just keep doing what I’m doing. Just a bit of exercising. Yeah, a bit of exercise. Try and stay active.

Dan: Doing that juicing?

Aaron: I’m doing the juicing. Yeah I’m juicing lots of organic green vegetables.

Several times a week. And yeah, trying to stay away from sugars and carbohydrates as much as possible.

Dan: Exercise.

Aaron: Exercise. Trying to get a good night’s sleep. It’s not always possible with all the workload. ButDan: Yeah, that’s a big one sleep.

Aaron: Yeah, it’s a big one.

Dan: Did I tell you what I heard about daylight savings times and heart attacks?

Aaron: No. What did you hear?

Dan: I was listening to this interview with his sleep researcher and he was talking about the importance of sleep for health. And he was saying that during daylight savings time, the time when we lose an hour of when we turn the clocks backAaron: Yeah. In the fall.

Dan: We lose an hour of sleep. There are 20% more heart attacks on that day.

And then the day where they roll the clocks forward so we gain an hour of sleep, hopefully. There are 20% less heart attacks.

Aaron: How about that? And that fits nicely with the 80/20 rule.

Dan: And we’re talking one hour of sleep and how many people are deprived much more than an hour?

Aaron: Sure. Yeah, lots.

Dan: So yeah.

Aaron: Well, on that note, I think I’m going to go to bed. I think I’m going to go to bed right now.

Dan: All right, sweet dreams.

Aaron: Okay, we’ll talk to you next time.

Dan: All right. See you.

Aaron: See you.