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ACTIVE LISTENING MAIN STORY

AGE IS JUST A NUMBER

Jeanne Calment holds the world record for the oldest person to have ever lived. She passed away in 1997, and according to her birth certificate, she was born in 1875 in the town of Arles, France. Her life stretched across centuries. She was born before the telephone, and she lived through two world wars. She even remembers meeting Van Gogh at the age of 12. In 1888, he visited her father’s store to buy art supplies. She says, he was “dirty, badly dressed and disagreeable.” Calment lived a full life and hardly slowed down in her golden years. She was known for her quick wit. When a departing visitor once said goodbye to the elderly Calment with “Until next year, perhaps,” she replied: “I don’t see why not! You don’t look so bad to me.” In addition to being mentally sharp as a tack, physically, she was a dynamo. She picked up fencing at the age of 85. And she still rode a bicycle at 100.

Ironically, she did not seem to be a health nut. She smoked until two years before she died. And she didn’t kick the habit for any health reasons. She simply couldn’t see well enough to light her cigarettes.

When she was laid to rest at the age of 122, she was internationally recognized as the oldest human to have ever lived. Calment believed that her love of wine and laughter kept her young. Others have credited her using olive oil to moisturize her skin and her habit of eating 2 pounds of chocolate a week.

Before we all pour another glass of wine and order a truckload of chocolate, know that not everyone is on board with Calment’s recipe for old age. Some say her longevity wasn’t because of chocolates, wine, laughter or even good genetics.

Russian mathematician, Nikolai Zak, has studied Calment’s life in detail. He says the secret to her longevity is much simpler: she was a phony. She lied about her age.

Zak’s theory is the birth certificate that shows her birthdate as 1875 is really the birth certificate of Calment’s mother, who died young. Attempting to avoid inheritance tax, Calment took her mother’s identity, adding 23 years to her actual age. Supporting his theory, he found identity cards for Calment’s mother showing height, eye and hair color that did not match her own. Something smelled fishy.

A Russian gerontologist, Dr. Novoselov, also assisted Zak in reviewing Calment’s life story. He says, “As a doctor I always had doubts about her age…The state of her muscle system was different from that of her contemporaries. She could sit up without any support. She had no signs of dementia.”

Even more damning, there are stories that Calment had all the old photos of herself burned when she became famous. If Zak and Novoselov are right, she only lived to the age of 99 and was far from the oldest person to have ever lived.

There are still believers in Calment’s story including some in her hometown in France. French gerontologist, Jean-Marie Robine, who helped verify her age for the Guinness Book of World Records, says the Russians’ theory is defamatory.

While people usually want to appear younger, not older, lying about one’s age is not uncommon. Age is a touchy subject. In some cultures, asking someone how old they are is rude. There is even a common expression that you never ask a lady her age. It’s just not polite. But why is this an impolite question? Some say it is because we live in a sexist society and women are unfairly judged by their appearance and their age. Though not as common, some men also complain about age discrimination.

It’s said you are only as old as you feel. Dutch businessman, Emile Ratelband, feels 20 years younger than his actual age. The 69-year-old even attempted to change his age in a court of law.

Emile took his first breath on March 11th, 1949. He asked a court in his hometown of Arnhem to change his birth certificate to March 11th, 1969.

Emile argued that people have changed their birth name and gender, so why not their age?

He told the Washington Post, “It’s our decision if we want to change our name, or if we want to change our gender. So, I want to change my age. My feeling about my body and about my mind is that I’m about 40 or 45.”

Emile believes that identifying as forty-something would

improve his quality of life. He said his legal age prevents

him from finding love on dating sites. He claims ageism is

spreading like wildfire and no-one wants to date a 69-

year-old.

He said if he could legally change his age to reflect how he

feels and looks, his prospects would improve vastly.

Emile also believes if people thought he was 49 it would

make him more employable.

When he first told town hall officials of his plan, he claims

the judges, “laughed like little girls.”

Many believed he was a victim of Peter Pan syndrome. A

psychiatric evaluation proved he wasn’t suffering from a

midlife crisis. They believed Emile had practical reasons

for carrying out his course of action.

Emile delivered a moving speech to the court. He said

modern society has liberated itself from the shackles of

old schools of thought. He believes we are all free to

become whatever we want to be even if that’s someone

20 years younger.

Emile compared his struggle to the transgender

movement. The court begged to differ. They ruled there

was no evidence of discrimination, unlike transgender

people whose medical needs are officially recognized.

They claimed Emile did not have a valid argument.

The court said Emile is free to act any age he feels. Yet

changing his birth date would cause 20 years of records to

go up in smoke. They said this would have severe legal

and societal implications.

Emile will appeal the court’s ruling. He argued “What is

time? Time is a figure. I say it’s not fixed.”

Philosophers have long called into question the very

concept of time. Scientists are now doing the same in

regard to a person’s age. They no longer believe it is set in

stone.

They claim everyone has two ages: their chronological age

and their biological age.

Harvard Medical School’s professor David Sinclair said,

“Chronological age isn’t how old we really are. It’s a

superficial number. We all age biologically at different rates. It depends on our genes, what we eat, how much we exercise and what environmental toxins we are exposed to. Biological age is what determines our health and our lifespan. Chronological age is the number of candles we should be blowing out.”

Perhaps Emile might have a case after all. As George Burns once said, “You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.”