Recently, while bumming it on Facebook (what else?), I came across a video addressing why this generation has trouble in the workplace.

At first, I dismissed what was termed the “millennial paradox,” thinking along the lines of Doesn’t every generation have some sort of trouble in the workplace? But as I watched it, my skepticism diminished.

Now, I have a relatively malleable mind to begin with, so whether this speaks to the truth of the speaker’s words or the persuasiveness of his rhetoric is another matter entirely, but I was taken aback.

Because it actually made sense.

I’m an idealist and, as leadership expert Simon Sinek asserts in the video, this generation’s idealism is what makes it great — ready to tackle challenges and create solutions to problems that seem impossible. But with this very philosophy, he says, comes a sense of entitlement, of impatience.

I’d never once thought of myself as possessing either of those qualities — and as a friend of mine rightly pointed out, it’s a bit sketchy to make generalizations in the first place about a group of people born anywhere from 1984 to the present — but Sinek made me think.

We have noble goals, he said of millennials, and we’re willing to put in the effort to reach them. But the time? Not so much.

In the video, Sinek uses an example about millennials who were employed for eight months but didn’t feel that they were “making an impact” in their workplace, and so decided to quit. It struck me that I was thinking the exact same way a little over a month ago, when I couldn’t get over the fact that my primary purpose — my job — for the next four years is merely to do well in school. Why aren’t I helping the world yet? I thought. How is studying for a French test or finishing a problem set bringing me closer to that goal?

What I should have realized is that particular goal isn’t going to be achieved in a few months, in a year, maybe not even in a decade. Now that I think about it, it probably takes a lifetime to be able to say I have made the world a little better.

But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

I have to admit I feel somewhat stupid writing this (then again, isn’t it time we stop associating idealism with ignorance?) but in the future, I want to see a little less fear; a little less war; a little less pettiness and self-concern. A little more hospitality; a little more humility; a little more forgiveness. And while I understand that such an abstract goal can’t be reached in the blink of an eye, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for. As a matter of fact, I believe we’re well on our way to achieving it already.

President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Abe recently came together and offered condolences: Abe for the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Obama for the bomb dropped on Hiroshima over seventy years ago. There’s finally been a ceasefire in Syria, however fragile, and peace talks will begin in a month if it holds. I know this generation is made up of brilliant thinkers and, fortunately, we’ve got the guides to help us bring our ideas to life.

Yes, that big, ambiguous goal may be a long way off, but I think we can get there. I think we are getting there, slowly, patiently—an acknowledgment, a ceasefire, a step at a time.