False gods
By Moshe Katz
CEO
Israeli Krav International

September 16, 2016, VPS-CLT, American Eagle flight 5183

Coffee served.

Diploma Worship

Throughout the generations of mankind man has worship many gods, creations of their own hands and their own minds. These gods and religions were created by man to give answers to the unknown and to satisfy a need. 

Some gods were created to be used by man to subjugate others, for political or monetary reasons. Other gods were created by sincere individuals trying to make some sense out of the arbitrariness of the wind and the rain.

The Hebrew prophets of old wailed against these false gods and urged the people to follow the one true God but most followed their own hearts and desires. Today we follow profits and ignore prophets. The Prophets of Old have been replaced by the Profits of New. 

One of the new gods are diplomas, ranks and awards; how we crave them, how we worship them. Dr Farid Fata, an immigrant from Lebanon had a medical degree from the prestigious Sloan Kettering cancer center. He had a diploma.

He used it to gain great power and steal money from the insurance companies. He told patients they had cancer, when they did not, gave them expensive treatments and billed the insurance companies for millions. 

The fraud went undetected for years, until one nurse walked in for a job interview and immediately picked up on the fraud. The doctor is now serving a 45 year sentence.

Why had no one noticed this for so many years? Why did the government, the other doctors, the hospitals not pick up on it? Why was only one nurse able to cry out "the king has no clothes"?

It is because we worship diplomas. 

The patients are not doctors but they are human. They did not complain when they did not get better, they did not complain when the treatment lasted longer than it was supposed to, they did not complain when their teeth fell out. They trusted too much.

But how can we beat the system of fraud? What can the average guy do?

False religions go unquestioned, kings were worship as gods and ruled by "Divine right" for centuries. This continues in some places in our own times. What can one do?

The martial arts world is filled with fraud and systems that do not work, that do not serve the needs of the hopeful practitioners. We believe that after a period of training the body should be its own judge. We say that when the technique is right - the body knows it. We stress the body should always be balanced, no fancy footwork. We stress that the body should always be comfortable, no bizarre martial arts contortions. When the techniques are correct the body is in sync.

If you do not feel right you have a right to ask why. When I teach a technique I always ask, "Does that make sense? Does that feel right?"

Remember, it is your life on the line. Do not trust anyone's diploma without question. Do not worship false gods, and they are everywhere.

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