Well the question that might be cynical is: do they actually mean it? Like saying, "oh at least you tried!"/"good for you!"/"you learning something right!"?, t

Well the question that might be cynical is: do they actually mean it? Like saying, "oh at least you tried!"/"good for you!"/"you learning something right!"?, this is something I get. No one ever asked, "What went wrong, what went right?" / "What did you learn, what would you do differently?" / "Next time you'll try something hit me up!" / "I have something I'm working on, check this out, are you interested?" / "We should talk more about this" You may say, those are different types of persons, one shows support the other shows curiosity and drive - but in the case of the latter they actually care and are "invested" in your failure as well to the point they'll give up some of their time and attention to ask about it, so they can learn something from your experience as well. What we lack in Europe aren't patting on the back, it's actually to value the experience of failure. It's "easy" to say nice words.