Catcher in the Rye - 2nd Half

I didn't get it before why Holden would keep saying how something was when it didn't seem so bad to me, or why he'd call someone a phony just because he didn't seem to like them, but now I think I'm getting more of an idea. Like when Mr. Spencer and a lady (who, apparently in Holden's opinion, is too old to be working) say "good luck", it irritates him because he thinks it's depressing. I guess it kind of was, since both times he was leaving somewhere and starting over, and didn't seem to have any expectations that it would work out. But what I really didn't understand before why practically everyone was a phony to Holden (I just thought that either 1. he was just jealous or 2. he had no idea what he was talking about), but now that I think about it, I can relate to him there. Like, whenever someone asks a question like "How are you?" or "Are you okay?", no one ever says "I'm not doing so well" or "No, I'm not okay" either because the asker doesn't seem to care at all, or it's just that those questions are useless and no one answers them after really thinking about the answer first, so the answer is always the same, "I'm good" or "I'm okay (even if I did just hit my head on something, really, I'm okay)". That kind of thing has always bothered me a bit too, especially when I'm talking to a friend and they don't seem to be telling the truth when I ask them that kind of question.

And I have to agree with Holden when he says "Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody". If you start telling someone something, then you have to remember it and think about it, and then you begin to wish to have that time back and you end up missing people you weren't even sure you liked - it's better to not talk about all that and focus on the future, because the past is already gone.