We are just being too nice

So recently I was looking at my Diet Rockstar energy drink and it said "drink 1 every day as needed, do not exceed 1 can per 24 hour period".
They do that on Dosage with Pills also, take 1-2 Tylenol but do not exceed X.

I always look at that whenever I take more than the recommended Tylenol in the period of time. I always say to myself "well if they did not want me to take more than the recommended dosage, then they wouldn't have given me an entire bottle, so how can it be THAT bad”. Sure this may seem like my logic is faulty, but there is some sense to it.

Drug companies put a whole lot of trust in people. They trust that people will not be totally stupid with the amount of pills they take. They probably put a safety factor that they put on pills; I mean normally it is called the “Safety factor”, but if I was working for a drug company I would probably call it the “Let’s be stupid” factor. The factor would be there for those special people who say “I will take 2 more pills! Take that Advil and your recommended dosage!”. The factor would make the recommended dosage smaller so those risk takers would still get the thrill of “overdosing” without actually doing anything. The drug companies just keep the trust in the drug buyers that they will not take more than necessary. Good for them for thinking that.

I started thinking about this whole “trust the customer” thing, and I remembered something that was posted on someone’s facebook wall.

“New York is not a place you can go on the honor system. This isn’t Canada,” - Maurice Jenkins, union vice president for stations.

I read an article in Canadian Living a few years ago that said a similar thing. A Canadian was telling her American friend about how we give a “thank you” wave when are driving and we let someone go first, or let a pedestrian pass, or when we let someone into traffic. The American said “You let people into traffic?”

Interesting… We all know that Canadians are known for being friendly, but you never realize that little things like the ‘friendly thank-you wave while driving’ is a Canadian thing.

That’s when I starting thinking further: why are us Canadians like this?

The only logical explanation I could think of was, drum roll please, it must be engraved in our history. History will tell me why Canadians and Americans are the way they are!

Here are some Canadian historic facts: Canada’s Confederation was in 1867. However we were still under British influence. In 1982, the Canadian constitution was passed where the British parliament passed an act that ended all remaining dependence of Canada to the UK.

How about the USA’s historic facts: Their Independence Day was July 4th 1776. It is their Independence Day aka they removed all British influence on that day.

Huh. Well that is interesting: the United States had independence 200 years before Canada.

The USA fought with England in order to hold their land. The Spanish and French and English that settled there got tired of being under UK control so they rebelled; started wars and eventually got their independence.
From then on, the USA had wars between land within the country between each other, not British government.

Not as much drama in Canada. There was one time that Canada did fight the USA when they tried to invade Quebec, and we won! So the lesson learned there is we will protect our country from rebels. Good for us. There is just one thing: we never really pushed back on the British.

It is almost like the Ambitious, rebellious, ‘motivated to reach outrageous goals’ settlers went to the United states and the laid back, ok with how things are, push over’s to the British government settled in Canada.

So for 200 more years after the United States declared independence, we were under British Control, not really having the last say in things, not being truly independent. In the meantime, the US has been flourishing, and making their own laws.

Hell, we have still not been able to kick Queen Elizabeth off of our coins yet! This alone shows how we just let British influence affect our lives now. Sure some of our bills have past Prime Ministers, but the queen still dominates as the main figure on our money. Why? Has she actually been that influential? Debatable. The USA have their Presidents on coins. Figures that have been residence of the United States and have made impact in History. We have a queen who sometimes visits. Even though I have only been alive for 24 years, it seems like not much has been done to get rid of this whole queen on the coins thing. What happens when she dies? Is she worth keeping on as a historical figure? Will Prince Charles be on our coins now? Because I am almost certain he will not make decisions for us. Why not Trudeau on our coins? He was influential in our history!

But I have gotten off topic. Nice Canadians. Right.

Personally I think History has said a lot. Canadians were content with the status quo and never really fought the British to get complete independence. “no no no keep the queen on the coin, she may get upset if we take her off it and replace it with John A McDonald”. Lame. The US was totally different. No wonder they are considered to be a mega power; they always have been.

Well, is there a way to turn this around? I mean people can change right? Well the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2010 Olympics did not display Canada as a power that the US should be concerned about.
Maybe we have just dug a hole too big for us to climb out of. Trying to convince an entire world that Canadians are bad ass seems a little unrealistic.
But we may as well start somewhere. Next time someone lets you into traffic, give them the finger instead. Next time a American asks if you live in igloos in Canada, say Fuck you! And Next time that Advil bottle says only take 10 pills in a 24hr period, take the whole bottle!

Common Canada! You with me!