Zig Ziglar, the well-known motivational speaker and entrepreneur, once said, "The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty." I'm not sure if anyone else has been watching the news lately, but with respect to the profession of pharmacy, it seems like someone has stolen our stones.

Is it just me, or have other pharmacists begun to feel somewhat shy about mentioning their profession in public lately? Pharmacy — a word once virtually synonymous with trust, honesty and compassion has lately felt almost like a dirty word.

Every morning I sip my steamy cup of coffee while I surf through news feeds for the latest information on the profession I have loved and served for over 20 years. And lately, almost as frequently, I just want to crawl back into bed, embarrassed by what has become of our once-trustworthy trade.

This month, it was information about a lawsuit being filed again UnitedHealth over supposedly overcharging patients for prescription drugs, and then presumably snatching that money back from the registers of the local pharmacy into their own pockets. These actions, according to the lawsuit, are outside the parameters of the usual co-pay collection process, and truly amount to extracting additional premiums from patients against their wills.

But UnitedHealth is hardly the only managed care plan being accused of wrongdoing or scandal. Earlier this year, Express Scripts was sued by Anthem to the tune of about $15 billion over allegations of inappropriate charges and operational failures. I could go on.

And then there are all the scandals surrounding pharmaceutical manufacturers as well. Think of the recent Mylan EpiPen ordeal, or the suddenly $750 per tablet Daraprim debacle that ultimately led to CEO Martin Shkreli being fired and eventually arrested.

Pharma sales representatives are often accused of unethical marketing practices, too. A Forbes article in January of this year entitled "Why Pharma Faces So Many Corruption Allegations" mentions that pharmaceutical reps have "manifold temptations" and "little accountability," which leads to frequent opportunities for these scandalous activities.

And lest I be accused of ignoring the dirty laundry generated by my own branch of the pharmaceutical profession, it seems like every day a new drug-diversion scheme by a pharmacist (often in cahoots with a physician) is uncovered and someone ends up in jail.

In January, a large opioid scandal was uncovered in Texas, dubbed the "Dallas Pill Mill." It was a scheme ultimately involving at least 31 individuals, including several pharmacists and pharmacy owners that resulted in the illegal distribution of about 150,000 tablets of oxycodone.

Reporting in the Legal Reader last month, Andrea Tucker writes, "It seems that pharmaceutical companies, physicians and other professionals in the medical industry have been in the news more and more. My backward belief that medical professionals were in their trades to help people has been shattered in recent years."

I can't say I blame her for that perspective. What's going on?

Friendly and otherwise healthy competition has given way to horrendous corruption. The noble goal to do better for patients has been tossed aside in exchange for doing better for ourselves. As one deeply concerned about our country and the profession of pharmacy, I have to admit it is difficult to not become pessimistic about the future of both.

And yet, in the midst of these scandals, I still see a glimmer of hope. We feel instinctively that these things are wrong. We speak up against them when we can. And many pharmacists I know and read about are actively living out a different and more honest model for our society to see.

Ziglar was right. Success in any industry pharmacy or otherwise must flow from the golden rule. Success is more than the bottom line. And for pharmacy, it is about time we wake up and remember that.