The abuse of certification.

How often have you seen certificates being brandished by individuals as badges of honour and supposed proof of their competency in so-and-so areas? Granted that my experience of this phenomena is only limited to the outdoor scene, I definitely think I have seen enough of such showing off. Just today, I heard an anecdote of someone insisting that she should stay with a person with a sprained ankle all the while because she is 'a certified first aider', and quite a few people asks me why bother paying for a kayak certification course when they can get it for free just by attending the PESS camp with a kayaking segment.

It is unfortunate that a lot of outdoorspeople and sportspeople cannnot help but want to chip in their 1 cent's worth of opinion and knowledge in whatever sports others are talking about; worse are those who, in times of crisis, become imbued with supreme confidence out of nowhere and insists on assuming control and resposibility of the situation. For those who get certificates of proof of competency, they really should know their stuff before talking/bragging/showing off their limited knowledge and skills in front of others. Beware, I am brutally honest and combative with people who talk out of their league, and will spare no effort in shaming such displays of idiocy.