Is American exceptionalism reflected in the way some choose to run and ride?

Those of us who run and ride or both know that etiquette does play a certain role in the life of both sports.

When you show up for the Saturday morning group run or group ride, the histrionics of who will lead and what segment of runners or riders you will join is generally an unspoken choice. You gravitate to those you know best, and pick out people with whom you think you can keep up.

One stepping and half-wheeling

But sometimes even those choices fail. You jump in with a group on the run and there’s a person who just can’t seem to hold themselves back. They’re always a half step ahead. One-stepping is a common phenomenon. I’ve written about it before and about the pricks who seem to need to dominate no matter what situation they encounter. But the one-stepping and half-wheeling habit is one that is worth mentioning again and again, because it seems the people who do it most can’t get it through their thick heads that there’s a time and a place for competitive running and riding, but you ought to talk about it first.

If you’re in a hardass training group the rules are simple: The best man or woman wins. There’s no such thing as one-stepping or half-wheeling then. You know what you’re there to do: Push the crap out of each other.

Missing the signals

But if you’re not up for that kind of red meat competitive fire, the rules are more subtle. That’s why the one-stepper on a group run is all the more annoying. They don’t pick up on the social clues of people who drop off the increasing pace or even swing wide with a flair to let you by. If you’re one of those people who is out there doing that crap, get a clue. People don’t mind working hard together, but when you’re pushing for your own sake and ignoring the signals from everyone else, you’re just being a dope.

Bleed out

That kind of personality flaw tends to manifest itself in other walks of life as well. Which should tell you that if you’re one-stepping on the run you’re probably also pushing people at work the wrong way too. They may never tell you openly, just as the runners in your group won’t say anything direct. No one likes to be forced to breach the social gap and confront others over something like one-stepping or half wheeling.

More likely you are the subject of frustrated conversation when you are not present. That’s true on the run and ride and at work as well. It takes work and commitment to manage your personal brand in the workplace and on the run and ride. You actually have to care what people think. Some people just don’t. They’d rather one-step and half wheel you the entire road of life.

Justice or not

Some secretly hope the half-wheelers and one-steppers will get their comeuppance sooner or later. But sometimes those behaviors are rewarded, not penalized. Other half-wheelers and one-steppers call that sort of aggressive, even egregious behavior “motivated” or “enthusiastic” or “assertive” and embrace that form of excess in others. A whole strain of half-wheelers and one-steppers can wind up running your organization. It doesn’t help to call them suck-ups or anything else. Reality sucks sometimes. The world rewards the half-wheelers and one-steppers in many ways. Some go so far as to call it the American Way. That leaves the rest of the world to talk behind our backs, and to complain that our nation is a half-wheeler and one-stepper on political and economic fronts.

American exceptionalism

We even have a name for the American grievance toward holding back and actually having some class and consideration on the world front. It is called American Exceptionalism, which as they say, is a double-edged sword.

Of course in certain political circles the attitude of exceptionalism is a required tenet for membership in the FU club, that prideful form of gross patriotism that cares not a whit for diplomacy. As in, FU, we’re > than you and we’ll do it our way.

It is a confusing ideology that states one’s priorities are automatically of higher value than someone else. As Mark Twain once said, “All it takes is ignorance and confidence, then success is sure.”

That describes the whole half-wheeler and one-stepper phenomenon pretty well. You can keep on doing it, even make it a principle factor in your ideology, but in the end, it really doesn’t make you better than anyone else. Even if you win, and half the world hates you for doing it, what’s the point? Really?

The tarsnake effect

They say all politics is local. Well, so is all etiquette. Our personal brands spread into all sorts of other manifestations, and manifestos. Think about it: even madmen like Adolf Hitler began their pursuit of world domination with little angers that later festered into eugenics and worse, a holocaust. Psychopathic and sociopathic tendencies all grow when they are rewarded by those who say nothing to stop them. Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile, they say.

Also: give them a one-step or a half-wheel and the whole group run or ride can be ruined. The tarsnake of doing nothing is far worse than the inconvenience of saying something. Some of the responsibility does rest with those most frustrated by the actions of others. We need to say something.

The cure for half-wheeling and one-stepping is simple. All it takes is a question, such as: “Hey, anyone want to pick it up here?” Your riding and running partners will respond.

The same simple questions manage situations at work and on the world stage. Rather than shoving your co-workers aside in race to the front of the suck-up line, why not make the effort to bring a few along in your pursuit of success? Ask for help. Compliment someone. Don’t be a dick as a boss. Then you’ll actually be appreciated and admired for both your leadership and your character.

And when it comes to America’s reputation on the international stage, perhaps it is high time we stopped shouting to the world “We’re #1” and started behaving like someone who knowns how to win the day but doesn’t really need to prove it every step of the way. That’s just fear rearing working from back to front. And that’s so un-American.