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)".