Playing strength versus rating

This came to my mind the other day: I am going to avoid showing rating points in my games from now on. (in the game-blog at chess dot com)
Why? The common chess-player thinks that rating is everything, that players play according to their ratings and that their games are worth that much attention accordingly. That may be the case with players who participate in tournaments on a regular basis, but with those for whom playing more than 9 games during three consecutive months is a rare and extraordinary event, it isn't. In their case, their rating will at some time in the future match the play, but until then there is nothing surprising about it when they perform (well) above the number denoting the actual rating.

I would rated myself a candidate master (2200~2300), while thanks to a busted tournament of Dec-2006 in the country, where I got an incredibly low initial rating, and the invariably low number of tournament games topped up with health reasons, the four-digit number is still nearing 2100 from below.
I already can defeat a few FMs out of the 2300s but still have a long way to go, and even putting aside the conditions mentioned above and in the previous blog entry, I am still far from playing "real chess", having a lot to learn even to be comparable to an IM, nevertheless I love the game and try to make use of the miriads of books I have--that is what I do while others are out playing in tournaments, modifying their ratings.

I started to take the game more seriously in the year of the busted tournament, by beginning to use my books and other instuctional stuff, and have been studying this game ever since without a coach or outside help. I get to a tournament every three months on average, which is not much, to say the least.
That is why I have to say, for me, at least, strength is more important than rating. (If I thought otherwise, I would always be bound to lose to higher-rated players.) I think there are quite a few chess-lovers out who should think about their chess with a similar approach in order to develop it to their potential.