Everybody is sick of being told by boomers to pull up by bootstraps, etc. We also hear the same tired sayings, like buzzword mk ultra activation phrases, and our reaction is to cringe.

Nothing addresses our real problems. The answers we get to the destruction of the family and the despair in the dating market are just out of touch cringe platitudes from 40+ years ago.

I find that the world often has these trite, cliche platitudes, like "focus on yourself" or "be the person you would be happy with" etc. These particular platitudes aren't wrong per se but they're definitely cringe. Why are they cringe? Because they have shadows of the truth, but miss the mark. The Orthodox Church teaches us that we are fighting a war, day in and day out; that we are called to become holy. That only in the strength of the Omnipotent Master and Lover of mankind, can we ever hope to be healed of our sick fallen human nature. This is the true meaning of focusing on yourself. It's not some self-help platitude about acquiring more material things, more status. It's about your inner spiritual life, and the peace that is visible to other people when you allow Christ God to dwell within you.

Platitudes have no depth. Cringe is the recoiling from hypocrisy, from pride. When we cringe at people throwing platitudes at us, we cringe at their pride, because we are hungry for depth, for true wisdom.