What do rank certificates prove?

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Well, nothing really. Rank certificates can now be made on your computer through a word processing program and all the chops like stamps can be pulled from the internet, copied, printed and made into stamps at your local business store. It offers no credibility and yet many see them and assume that it means a lot. 

Even when associated with organizations it means nothing. It is nice to put on your “Atta-boy Wall,” but in reality it means absolutely nothing. You can print it out at any print store and on paper that looks and feels authentic, what ever that means, and put it into a really nice, expensive and high class looking frame and up on your wall - impressive ain’t it?

In a recent posting somewhere out there in the internet world the comment was made that some nefarious person offered someone’s senior student what he called a “Fake Certificate.” My first question is, how did that person know it was a fake certificate and if he did somehow have some evidence what does it matter? 

Now he also said that the person stated, “Rank is everything.” He then denigrated that person for saying it and in truth was disparaging that persons’ beliefs and that is not a nice thing to do. To that person rank is everything and in all likelihood that person will spend what ever he has to achieve that goal and what he will have to show for it is a nice certificate to put on his wall. 

If you are gullible enough or if this type of thing tickles your fancy and you are willing to spend the money then who are we to disparage your beliefs. When it comes to rank, it is about ego and economics, i.e., the ego of the members and the money to be earned by those who fill the bill or in other words “Supply according to the demands.” 

Since the guy disparaging the other guy was not being drawn in to the scheme and was out not one penny then why bother. Is it because he was lacking in the right level of confidence in his teachings and abilities thinking he would lose students to this other guy? Honestly, if he worried so much about the certificate rank guy he should lose his students.  

Hey, if you want, send me your name and style and I will gladly make up any certificate and rank you want and will charge you for the materials, paper and access to the computer and printer, and the postage to mail it out or better yet I will make it up and convert it to pdf format and you can carry it around in your cell phone to show everyone. That would make it actually a freebie. 

Don’t get me wrong, I was enamored with rank and certificates in my first five or so years of study, practice and training. I actually paid one association to join and be ranked and then I woke up, it is not worth it.

Here is how I see it, your proficiency in karate or martial arts is a very personal thing. Your practice makes for progress and if you are dedicated and work hard you will progress and in the years that follow become more proficient and capable regardless of the reasons why you train and practice. Take a look at yourself and evaluate your studies and practices, if you are satisfied and perceive progress that is steady then you are a good karate-person or martial artist and don’t need validation from someone else, even your sensei. If you continue to learn; if you continue to understand; if you continue to progress you are good and what others feel, see, perceive or think means absolutely nothing. If you achieve your self-goals in the discipline then a certificate can neither give nor take that away from you. 

Others opinions are meant to be studied and either discarded or absorbed according to you and the rest is just chatter, noise and a distraction. 

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Is this real? Is it valid? Is it worth anything? What does it prove?
What does it disprove?