Belief - The T Shirt

In times well past, the acme of success
used to be proven by the certificate
you got from the authority
for whom you'd done the work
that proved to all and sundry
how much they esteemed you.

This was most true for academic achievement,
where each student who got their certificates
felt that it was because of their commitment
rather the actions of the awarding body.

In Martin Luther's time, close to the founding
of the printing press, belief in certificates
extended to believers having certificates
on their walls, printed by Luther's printers
that told the reader that 'Householder
(insert name here) is saved by Jesus.'.

Nowadays achievements matter less
however grand they are presented as being.
Seeing something in print means no more
than you reading this before going to page.

Nowadays certificates are more likely to used by fraudsters
than by anyone else, to show off with
as they denude the credulous of their wealth. 

If we want anyone to believe something
now, then we put it on a T shirt
or in the terms and conditions
that everyone clicks on to accept,
without reading it in any detail.