One man is taking the adage “age is just a number” to a whole new level.
Emile Ratelband, a 69-year-old motivational speaker from the Netherlands, has filed paperwork requesting permission from a court to be legally recognized as a 49-year-old.
In bureaucratic terms, that means dialling back the date on his birth certificate by 20 years. In all other terms, who really knows how it’ll play out.
Ratelband’s case is based on his belief that he feels much younger than he really is. Apparently, doctors told him he has the body of 45-year-old – a “young god,” as the aspiring age revisionist says.
So why take a positive medical check-up to the utmost extreme? Dating, duh.
“When I’m 69, I am limited. If I’m 49, then I can buy a new house, drive a different car,” he says. “I can take up more work. When I’m on Tinder and it says I’m 69, I don’t get an answer. When I’m 49, with the face I have, I will be in a luxurious position.”
Ratelband’s lawyer says it’s about time courts allow people to identify by their “emotional age.” Completely at odds with this belief, he also added “there is also something like common sense, of course.”
How far is the young whippersnapper willing to go? Ratelband says he’s willing to delay his pension benefits for 20 years to coincide with his return to mid-life.
The judge presiding over the case has yet to indicate a clear position on the matter, though he countered skepticism with recognition that legally changing one’s gender was also unimaginable at one point.
Something tells me a lot of people are going to feel catfished if this goes through.
