It holds your pants up

I always roll my eyes when I hear the statement, "I have a black belt."

We all have certain phrases or statements that bother us when people (both male and female) try to impress with symbols of what they think is strength/power. Mine just happens to be the above. My mind stops listening to anything else the person states and discounts further conversation.

I am working to change my response. Maybe that person is insecure and just trying to verbally make up for something that is lacking. Maybe they are narcissistic.
That's odd.

Look at James' belt.

This was handed down to him by two previous instructors giving it a lineage of over 30 years .
He has never stated that he has a black belt.
It's there to hold his dogi closed and to keep his pants from falling down.
He humbly continues to train even without wearing a belt of any sort.
He would tell you that there are no tokens or symbols that represent his training.
The way he lives his life and treats other people is the reason he was given the privilege to wear the other instructors' belt.
So it is a symbol, but one that is personal and internal, not to be stated in conversation.

Mr. Miyagi was right. "Karate here, here (pointing to head and heart), not here (belt)".

Without training wheels

This is my first bicycle circa 1970. I inherited it from a cousin. It had solid rubber tires and a bad gear ratio making it hard to pedal. Notice the the improperly installed safety mirror that would probably get a ticket these days. Notice the bare feet. This was my standard uniform for the day. My dad and I had just taken off the training wheels

Turtles in the road

I had to stop and get a turtle out of the road the other day. She was injured pretty bad but I stopped and took her to a person that does wildlife rehab. Box turtles can live over 100 years and are very interesting. I once found one with just two legs and turned him loose in my back yard.

Big Cats in North Carolina

A lot of people don't believe that we still have mountain lions in North Carolina. This was taken at a cabin in Fines Creek, NC. I have talked to several fly-fishermen that have seen a pair of mountain lions at Jones Gap, SC.
They are here. I want to see one. I just hope he/she is not hungry.