Y’know, my favourite quote from Gandhi is “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”.Last weekend, we had a guest preacher from Detroit at our staid Catholic church whose approach was, shall we say, more animated than your average Catholic sermon.He said that when you stand up for what you believe, they will make fun of you, they will hate you and they will attack you.Gandhi, likewise, said, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, and then you win”.I could go on, but the point is obvious. It is time for the quiet revolution. Not in defense of pharmacists. In defense of the important role we play that is being eroded on many sides.It is not about being more comfortable, it is about being challenged and gratified by helping patients solve their problems in the way only pharmacists can.It is about getting past the rhetoric of being insulted and offended, of being underappreciated and under-compensated and complaining of the suffering at the hands of those who would enslave us. (More about enslavement next blog.)I worked for a large chain when I started in pharmacy over 30 years ago. I won’t say which one, but the associate owner took me aside one day and told me I spent too much time talking to patients. I was 21 years old.I told her that she should let me know when she observed me taking too long, and come to the patient and me and tell us our time was up.She said it would be inappropriate for her to cut our discussion short. I responded that it was inappropriate for me to do the same.Of course, I was a smart-ass punk. But, I also had been challenged to be a professional and never abandon the patient just months before on graduation. So I guess some of it stuck.Maybe the first step in the quiet revolution is taking the time patients need and deserve. Sure, your boss might get mad, but the patients will love you for it, and they will get the benefit.If they threaten to fire you, ask them why they would want to get rid of someone who is building customer service and loyalty. Do it nicely, respectfully, but do it.Give the patient the time they should get, and that is paid for, for services like MedsChecks or opinions or other government sponsored professional services.If your employer gives you a hard time, suggest that you simply don’t want the program and its revenues to disappear because pharmacists did not step up to the plate.Go the extra mile for patients, because they need it. Find out what their problems are, get better at communicating with patients, and increase their knowledge and respect and reliance on your good counsel.Join the over twenty thousand other pharmacists in community practice doing the same thing and the brand recognition will not be a chain, but it will be the pharmacist as a distinct professional.Or just rattle your sabres (or pitchforks, or whatever). Maybe someone will listen. But no one will care. Not about pharmacists and their lot—only about patients.Make it about patients, stand up for your patients, stand up for your professional obligation. It is a big word, and it can shield you from those who try to force you into not living up to it.And be nice about it. Feel sorry for those managers who are ignorant of professionalism. Be understanding of their avarice and greed, because it is all they know.Help them see the value of pharmacists. Let go of your frustration that they don’t care about the health and wellbeing of the people you serve.They’re your patients, not theirs. Cultivate and refine the relationship with your patients. So they come to see you, not for pantyhose on sale in aisle 7.And then you win.